Pedestrian Safety

Philadelphia Planners and Police Looking for Pedestrian Safety Solutions

Pedestrian safety in Philadelphia is a mixed bag. While it can often be a pleasant, pedestrian-friendly city, recent pedestrian deaths have highlighted the ongoing need to improve the safety of the Philadelphia's sidewalks and streets.

June 23, 2014 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Great Streets? How about Healthy, Safe Streets?

Advocates and citizens in Boyle Heights, a historic and predominantly Latino neighborhood on the Eastside of Los Angeles, are hoping for more than economic development from the city's Great Streets initiative.

June 18, 2014 - KPCC

Orlando Street

Nation's Most Dangerous City for Pedestrians Becoming Safer

A Smart Growth America report put the spotlight on Orlando and the entire state of Florida as leading the nation in pedestrian deaths per capita. NPR investigate what is being done to lose the infamous title.

June 16, 2014 - NPR

The Demographics of Pedestrian Safety

While pedestrian safety affects all areas, it disproportionately affects cities with large minority populations because they are more likely to walk than whites. Santa Ana, Calif. a majority "minority" city, is taking steps to make walking safer.

June 11, 2014 - Aljazeera America

Pedestrian Danger

'Dangerous by Design' Paints Bleak Portrait of Pedestrian Safety

A report by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition ranked the danger to pedestrians in metro areas around the country. The report finds the metro areas of the Sun Belt are the least safe to be the least safe places to walk.

May 22, 2014 - CityLab

Should Police Write More Jaywalking Tickets in Philadelphia?

A reporter in Philadelphia doesn't hold back the innuendo in a recent article about the city's efforts to improve pedestrian safety. The implication: pedestrians won't be safe until the police start writing jaywalking tickets.

May 16, 2014 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Biking Boom Takes to the Sidewalks

The city of Santiago, Chile offers a cautionary tale for cities amidst a biking boom that don’t rethink the mode balance on their streets: there’s nowhere for bikers to go except the sidewalk.

April 20, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

NYPD Writing More Traffic Tickets

February data shows a perceptible increase in the number of moving violations enforced in New York City compared to the year prior. The increase is at least partly because of how few traffic tickets were written in 2013.

March 18, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Can New Financing Mechanism Deliver Multi-Modal Safety in Low-Income Areas?

A new bill in Congress would create a new $11 million program amidst the $1 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program. But can it deliver more safety improvements to under-served populations?

March 12, 2014 - USA Today

San Francisco Announces New Pedestrian Safety Program: WalkFirst

With its own “Vision Zero” goals in place to eliminate pedestrian fatalities within a decade, San Francisco has developed the WalkFirst plan to target the most dangerous intersections in the city for safety improvements.

March 6, 2014 - The San Francisco Examiner

New York Mayor de Blasio Details Vision Zero Traffic Safety Plan

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered Police Commissioner William Bratton and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to make the potentially historic policy announcement: the Vision Zero plan, which treats all traffic deaths as preventable.

February 19, 2014 - New York Times

Woman in Bike Lane, Toronto, Canada

Bike and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Bill Introduced in Congress

Rep. Albert Sires (D-N.J.) introduced the New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act of 2014 (H.R. 3978), modeled on TIFIA, to promote investment in bike and pedestrian facilities to make streets safer for all modes.

February 3, 2014 - NJ.com

Is Lowering the Speed Limit the Best Way to Improve Street Safety?

In the aftermath of recent pedestrian fatalities, a lot of attention has been placed on lowering speed limits across New York City to improve safety. But the city's former traffic commissioner argues that other approaches would be more effective.

January 30, 2014 - New York Daily News

To Improve Street Safety, NYPD Cracks Down on Elderly Pedestrians

How far should cops go to ticket jaywalkers, particularly when dealing with non-English speaking senior citizens? An 84-year-old upper-West Side resident was targeted by New York's finest, and ended up arrested, bloodied and hospitalized.

January 27, 2014 - New York Post

Small sneckdown at Hampshire and Elm in Cambridge, MA

Sneckdowns: Nature's Street Safety Pilot Project

It's hard to imagine how the wintry mess blanketing cities across midwest and northeast could improve street safety. But recent snows provide one benefit being touted by safety advocates: temporary curb extensions or "neckdowns" caused by snow banks.

January 25, 2014 - BBC News

Bad crosswalk

Is This the Most Useless Crosswalk Ever?

The Transportation Planner posts about an inexplicable crosswalk at a highway interchange located in McLean, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC.

January 19, 2014 - The Transportation Planner

Pedestrian Safety Becomes a National Issue

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.

January 17, 2014 - DC.Streetsblog

De Blasio Outlines Plan to Eliminate NYC Traffic Deaths

Yesterday, Mayor de Blasio launched “Vision Zero”, a multi-agency effort to eliminate NYC's traffic deaths within a decade. With eleven deaths (seven of them pedestrians) already recorded in the new year, progress can't come soon enough.

January 16, 2014 - Streetsblog

Cities Pursue Different Paths to One Goal: Safer Streets

In the face of rising pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities, the District of Columbia's police department began deploying automated photo enforcement technologies while San Francisco took a multi-agency, collaborative planning approach.

November 26, 2013 - Transportation Nation

With Bipartisan Bills, U.S. Congress Looks to Improve Bike and Pedestrian Safety

Bipartisan groups of legislators introduced identical bills in the U.S. House and Senate last week that would compel the USDOT and states to measure and improve the safety of non-motorized transportation users.

November 20, 2013 - Celebrate Sitka Cycling

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