PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
NHTSA has identified three critical audiences for pedestrian safety programs, and has designed programs and materials to address the needs of each group:
- Children
- Older adults
- Impaired pedestrians
NHTSA’s focus is to identify potential problems and solutions and to develop materials that help communities address their pedestrian safety issues, both through existing NHTSA programs such as Safe Communities and through partnerships with local groups.
This Program Planner will focus on the first two audiences, children and older adults. Information on impaired pedestrians will be included in future materials.
NHTSA has joined with the National Safety Council and other organizations to create the Partnership for a Walkable America (PWA). It’s Walkability Checklist created by the Partnership can help communities foster a better environment for walking. The checklist is available in both English and Spanish. To order this and other pedestrian materials, see Program Publications for Planner 19.
To join the Partnership for Walkable America contact:
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Partnership for Walkable America
National Safety Council
1121 Spring Lake Drive
Itasca, IL 60143-3201
Phone: 800-621-7615 ext. 2383
E-mail: thompsoh@nsc.org
Web: http://www.nsc.org
Children
Children are not only the group most likely to be pedestrians, they are also the group least likely to be paying attention to traffic. Younger children present a special set of challenges, since in order to reach them as an audience you must first reach their parents and teachers, as well as motorists. See "Back-to-School Programs" on page 2 of this activities guide for information on National Walk Our Children to School Day.
Older Pedestrians
By the year 2020, 50 million Americans will be age 65 and older. A surge is expected in 2011, when the first baby boomers hit 65 and begin to retire in large numbers. NHTSA has been addressing issues related to older drivers for decades, and has increased emphasis on this important safety issue in recent years. Pedestrian safety for older Americans is part of the agency’s planning, and should be a part of any comprehensive pedestrian safety campaign.
NHTSA has developed a program called "Walking Through the Years," a safety program for older pedestrians. Brochures and videos are available in English and Spanish, and address safety and security issues of concern to older Americans. See Program Publications for Planner 19 for more information.
One successful approach to reaching older pedestrians is NHTSA’s new "zone process" that identifies a relatively small geographic area within a city that has a concentration of pedestrian crashes and suggests countermeasures to save lives. Key stakeholders in the community then decide among a set of behavioral and engineering approaches for reducing the problem. Countermeasures address pedestrians (such as how to make yourself more visible), motorists (looking out for pedestrians) and the environment (improved traffic signs, greater crosswalk visibility, and better sight distances).
For a copy of the Zone Guide for Pedestrian Safety, write the Office of Research and Traffic Records, NTS-31, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590, or fax a request to 202-366-7096.
