With people young and old embracing urban lifestyles and cities working to create more walkable environments, pedestrian safety is a growing concern across the U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has embraced the issue as a priority.
We heard this week about Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to eliminate New York City's traffic deaths within a decade. But New York isn't the only city focusing on pedestrian safety. In San Francisco, a spate of deaths in December made 2013 the worst year for pedestrians since 2007, "and refocused a spotlight on a problem that city officials for years have vowed to address," reports Victoria Colliver. And a collision this week in Los Angeles involving a vehicle carrying Mayor Eric Garcetti and a 60-year-old woman shows that even the highest authorities aren't immune from reproach.
At the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx indicated that the federal government will examine ways to address the issue. He told a "packed room" that rising levels of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries while he was mayor of Charlotte, and his own experience being struck while jogging, have led him to "focus some attention on pedestrian and bicycle safety,” reports Tanya Snyder. Perhaps Foxx will consider supporting the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act introduced in November by Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Earl Blumenauer.
FULL STORY: Secretary Foxx Pledges to Make Bike/Ped Safety a Priority
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New data released Dec. 19 by NHTSA shows increased safety for those traveling by car, but pedestrian fatalities are 15% higher than in 2009. Plans by San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago to increase ped safety are described by the WSJ.
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Though more and more cities realize that walkability and livable streets are essential to their prosperity, their approach to pedestrian safety is often lacking. The slow pace of policy change isn't fast enough for the victims of "accidents".
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