Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett today announced a new pedestrian safety education effort aimed at reducing pedestrian injuries and deaths among non-native English speakers, one of the groups at highest risk of being involved in pedestrian collisions.

Montgomery County’s Public Information Office (PIO) has developed a pedestrian safety video called, “Walk SafeTM: Keeping Pedestrians Safe in the Danger Zone” that will be distributed to adult English-as-a-Second Language (ESOL) teachers at Montgomery College and in Montgomery County public schools, plus non-profit groups, churches and employers that provide English language instruction in the county.

“Despite our considerable efforts in Montgomery County to reduce pedestrian fatalities, people continue to die by simply crossing the street,” said Leggett. “A disproportionate number are non-native English speaking pedestrians. That’s why I’m proud to launch a new pedestrian safety education campaign aimed at adult ESOL students who, we hope, will take the safety messages they learn back to their families, friends and communities. The WalkSafeTM video is another step forward in our efforts to try and prevent any more needless pedestrian deaths.”

As of 2005, foreign-born immigrants comprised 29 percent of Montgomery County’s population. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Latinos have higher per-capita pedestrian death rates than the U.S. population as a whole.

Although aimed at adult non-native English speakers, the video is also appropriate for students and young adults who are not necessarily ESOL students and can be used to increase new drivers’ awareness of pedestrians. PIO will provide public schools in the county with videos that principals will distribute to teachers encouraging them to use WalkSafeTM as a classroom resource.

“Thousands of our students walk to school every day, so we are particularly pleased that the “Walk Safe” DVD will be available as a resource in our schools and our community,” said Nancy Navarro, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education. “We are also glad that this pedestrian safety campaign will be targeting non-native English speakers, one the groups at highest risk of being involved in pedestrian-vehicle accidents. We hope that students will also share the lessons they learn from the DVD with their families and friends so we can all have a safer school year.”

Eight public service announcements of varying lengths have also been produced from the video to promote pedestrian safety concepts to the general public. These spots will be provided to broadcast television, cable and radio stations in the region and will run on the County’s cable channel, County Cable Montgomery (Channel 6 for Comcast and RCN subscribers and Channel 30 for Verizon).

Rather than using brochures, ads or other traditional outreach materials, PIO chose a video format for this campaign because:

• It can be used in a wide variety of situations;

• It can be used to educate individuals and groups;

• It is relatively inexpensive to duplicate; and

• It is easy to distribute.

Non-native English speakers are disproportionately involved in pedestrian collisions, but with more than 140 languages spoken in Montgomery County, the challenge was to find a cost-effective way to reach these residents. Translating materials into Spanish would only reach about 13 percent of non-native speakers, and even translating into the top 10 languages spoken in the County only addresses the needs of about 25 percent of the County’s non-native English speakers (based on 2006 American Community Survey data). Therefore, the challenge remained to find the best way to distribute information in each language to the intended audiences.

Staff from the County’s Latino Health Initiative program was instrumental in helping PIO develop the concept of producing a video aimed at adult ESOL learners. After seeking additional input from other County and Montgomery College staff, plus community members who work with non-native English speakers, PIO determined that incorporating pedestrian safety training in ESOL classes has a number of advantages over translating written materials into multiple languages:

• No language group is excluded from the outreach effort.

• The classes reach tens of thousands of residents in the target audience every year.

• The classes are taught in English, so there is no need to translate instructional materials into multiple languages.

• A typical ESOL curriculum item may be taught during several classes, an intense level of instruction that paid advertising or other conventional outreach methods would be hard pressed to match in effectiveness.

ESOL teachers from Montgomery College enthusiastically endorsed the idea of using instructional materials in their classes, and officials, teachers and students from the College worked closely with PIO staff on development of the video.

“Montgomery College has incorporated pedestrian safety lessons into its adult ESOL classes because many of the students walk or use public transportation,” said Donna Kinerney, instructional dean of adult ESOL and literacy programs. “Rules for driving vary in other cultures, so it is essential for our students to learn how to walk safely in the United States. We look forward to using the new video to demonstrate to our students how to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

WalkSafeTM is an English language video with English subtitles comprised of five stand-alone modules that promote basic pedestrian safety concepts, identify risky behaviors and situations, and explain terms, expressions and signage. The five modules are: Introduction, Signs and Signals, WalkSafeTM Rules, Risky Situations and Be Safe! (Summary and Review). Each module is four to five minutes long and begins with a review of the primary pedestrian and traffic safety vocabulary words used in that module.

To help reduce one’s chance of being involved in a pedestrian collision, the video encourages students to: take responsibility for their own safety; pay attention and be alert; cross carefully; be patient when crossing the road; obey traffic signs and signals; cross the street at crosswalks; move fast (but don’t run) to cross the road when it’s safe; and be visible to be seen.

The video is accompanied by a Teacher’s Guide that suggests activities and comprehension checks for each module to help instructors use the video as a teaching tool for both pedestrian safety and English-as-a-Second Language. ESOL instructors will also receive a survey that will allow PIO to assess whether the video has increased knowledge about pedestrian safety and changed pedestrian behavior. Teachers will be asked to voluntarily administer the “pre-survey” to their students before they see the video. After the video lessons have been completed, students will take the “post-survey,” preferably a week or two later, so they have the opportunity to practice their new WalkSafeTM rules before answering the questions.

The WalkSafeTM outreach campaign continues Leggett’s celebration of “Pedestrian Safety Week” in Montgomery County to highlight pedestrian safety and the progress the County is making.

This is the third of five press events that Leggett is holding during the first two weeks in September to highlight pedestrian safety and the progress the County is making on its pedestrian safety priorities. Leggett has designated the week of September 1 as “Pedestrian Safety Week” in Montgomery County.

The video, teachers guide, resource materials, survey and public service announcements are available on the County’s website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/walk. For more information, call Esther Bowring at 240-777-6530.