National Pedestrian Safety Month

October is recognized as National Pedestrian Safety Month. The campaign advocates for everyone to have the right to walk or roll nationwide safely. The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that “6516 pedestrians were killed in 2020- averaging 18 pedestrians a day” (2022). Eliminating pedestrian fatalities is the mission of all transit agencies because, at some point, we are all pedestrians. This year across Durham, numerous improvements, programs, and initiatives have been made to enhance Durham residents’ biking and walking experience.  

Programs and Initiatives: 

Light Up the Night:

Way to Go Durham is promoting “Light Up the Night,” an educational light safety campaign that provides children and Durham residents with resources to increase their visibility biking, walking, or waiting at a bus stop in Durham. This program focuses on giving reflective bands, keychain flashlights, and information on transit resources for Durham’s most vulnerable populations who bike, walk, or use transit. The program’s staff hosted pop-up events at Durham Station and distributed reflectors and flashlights to transit riders. The team partnered with Durham Public Schools and will hand-deliver clip-on reflectors and traffic safety educational sticker books to elementary school children. 

 Walk & Roll to School Day:

Earlier this month, nine elementary schools in Durham participated in the nationwide  Walk & Roll to School Day. The program is a part of the National Safe Routes to School Program. This organization advocates for students, parents, and faculty to explore the benefits of walking or rolling to get to school while working to increase visibility, improve infrastructure and the quality of life.

The goal of this event was for students, parents, and faculty to have fun while encouraging a sustainable way to safely get to and from school. The City’s Way to Go Durham program donated child-size clip-on reflectors and bike lights to schools participating this year.

Move a Bull 

During this month’s Move a Bull event, the transportation department presented three posters to showcase the City’s plans to improve biking and walking across the City. Each map is unique and tells a story about our existing network, how our network has grown, and how our network is being planned for future growth. 

Biking Improvements and Plans: 

“Growing Our Bike Network (2017-Today)” breaks down the year over year growth of our bike facilities showing an increase in miles of network built each year totaling 68. It also shows how our multi-use facilities such as shared-use paths, side paths, and trails & greenways connect to our bike facilities to form an even greater bike-friendly transportation network of 167 miles.

“What’s Next? Durham’s Future Bike Network” shows our future funded bike projects and how they will complete our existing network increasing the total number of miles of facilities by 41. It highlights our most immediate upcoming projects, including neighborhood bike routes, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) bike lanes, and vertical separation projects. 

Sidewalk Improvements and Plans: 

“Building A Walkable City: Increasing Access and Connectivity” displays our extensive existing pedestrian network of nearly 950 miles and how that network is set to grow to nearly 1,000 miles with our future funded projects. It also shows our recently completed projects and the positive effects these projects have had on accessibility enhancing connectivity to commercial centers, trails, transit stops, park and rec facilities, schools and educational facilities, grocery stores, and to and through areas of persistent poverty. 

All of Us are Pedestrians: 

We are all pedestrians. While celebrating the benefits of walking, let’s take steps to be safe drivers and walkers. Drivers always yield to pedestrians, slow down and prepare to stop when entering a crosswalk area. Pedestrians follow the rules of the road and look in every direction for vehicles or bikes when crossing the street.  Everyone has the right to walk and roll, and the City’s Department of Transportation is working to improve our infrastructure daily. We will continue to lead innovative projects to make Durham a safer place to bike, walk, and roll.  

Resources:  

Bike Safety Tips- Bike Month Article  

Pedestrian Safety Guide 

Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide 

Traffic Safety Facts  Pedestrians 

Traffic Safety Facts  Children 

 

Skills

Posted on

October 20, 2022

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