CALL TO ACTION

“Remember, Reflect and Respond” to promote pedestrian safety in your community and help reduce collisions and fatalities.  Get your friends, neighbors and loved ones  involved by taking one or more of the actions below:

1) Distribute Pledge Cards

Create your own pledge cards that outline a few simple safety measures and distribute them.   Urge people to stop clear of crosswalks, be aware of pedestrians, refrain from text messaging while driving, drive at safe speeds and make sure everyone uses seatbelts.

2) Start a Reflective Ribbon Campaign

Begin a reflective ribbon campaign in your community to symbolize a commitment to road safety.  Suggest that people wear them on clothing or bags, or display them on vehicles to commemorate the victims of road crashes.

3) Involve Local Business

Get local businesses involved in the effort to make your community safer.  Inquire about posting campaign posters, sponsoring and/or helping to plan local safety events or donating giveaways, such as reflective gear.

4) Report Defective Traffic Control Devices

Take personal responsibility for the safety of your community by reporting any defective traffic control devices such as worn crosswalks, malfunctioning pedestrian crossing signals, broken streetlights or damaged traffic signs.

5) Adopt a Sidewalk

Take safety into your own hands by being responsible for a portion of sidewalk in front of your residence.  Make sure the sidewalk is free of obstructions and is well maintained, so it is accessible to all.

6) Conduct a Neighborhood Walkability Audit

Partner with your civic association to perform an assessment of pedestrian routes. Look for safety hazards and needed improvements to make walking routes more accessible and safer for pedestrians of all ages.  

7) Wear Reflective Gear

Using reflective gear is one of the easiest and most effective ways to ensure one’s personal safety.  Reflective items are inexpensive, easy to wear and make pedestrians more visible to drivers -- especially at night.

8) Begin a Crosswalk Campaign

Start a crosswalk campaign in your community to emphasize the importance of crosswalk use for pedestrians and crosswalk awareness for drivers.  Jaywalking is a major cause of pedestrian crashes leading to injury and death.  Raise driver awareness about the importance of stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks and avoiding blocking them. 

9) Start a School Road Safety Campaign

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to pedestrian collisions.  Start campaigns in local schools to teach children how to cross streets safely. 

10) Start a Walking School Bus

Take turns with other parents escorting children to and from school each day.  Parents will have the opportunity to teach kids good safety practices, while improving everyone’s health and fitness.

A press event was held on May 21 at Stone Mill Elementary School to highlight pedestrian safety activities aimed at kids (see the full details in the County’s press release here). Speakers (from left to right) included Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast; Edward B. Cohen, Vice President, Government and Industry Affairs, Honda North America, Inc; Ms. Kimberly Williams, Principal, Stone Mill Elementary School; County Councilmember Nancy Floreen, chair of the Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee; State Delegate Bill Bronrott (D-District 16, Bethesda); Councilmember Phil Andrews, chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee; County Executive Ike Leggett; and at the podium, Matthew Sagger, fifth grader and Captain of the Stone Mill safety patrol.

Honda of North America, Inc. donated 400 copies of a 14-minute DVD on pedestrian safety called “Step to Safety with ASIMO.” The DVD, aimed at 5-to-9 year-olds, will be distributed to every public and private K-5 school in Montgomery County, and every County library will receive two copies. You can also view the DVD online here: http://asimo.honda.com/SafetyVideo.aspx

Matthew Saggar, Safety Patrol Captain, giving an interview on his experiences on the front lines of school pedestrian safety.

This year’s Street Smart campaign is underway. Brochures and posters from the campaign will be distributed throughout the year. See the County’s press release regarding Street Smart here.

The Street Smart campaign was started by Montgomery County in 2002 using a $50,000 State grant awarded to the County and $50,000 in County funds. This seed money helped leverage the $400,000 to $500,000 annual regional effort, which is now directed by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and is supported by federal, state, county and local agencies from suburban Maryland, the District of Columbia, and northern Virginia.

Street Smart is an annual public education, awareness and behavioral change campaign in the Washington, DC, suburban Maryland and northern Virginia area. The campaign uses radio, newspaper, and transit advertising, public awareness efforts, and added law enforcement, to respond to the challenges of pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

The Montgomery County Police Department has been conducting additional enforcement and educational activities to complement this year’s campaign.

Jeff Radan, consultant and trainer, teaching Kennedy HS students.

A group of about 50 Kennedy High School students, as a part of their Leadership Training Institute, Agents of Change program, went through a pedestrian safety "train the trainer" course on December 19, 2007. They learned how to be safe pedestrians with the aim of teaching the same new knowledge and skills to elementary school students in the Kennedy cluster.

Kennedy HS Group photo (sorry to those just outside of this shot!)

The walk training program is supported by the Pedestrian Safety Program in the County Executive's Office. The first training took place in 2005 at Blair High School and the Blair kids have had great success and great fun in teaching younger kids in their cluster to be safe walkers. Typically, the elementary school trainings are conducted during two physical education periods. If your high school has a group a students with the time and commitment required for this program, you can arrange for training by calling DPWT's Community Outreach office at 240.777.7155 or by email.

December 13, 2006 Crossroads Enforcement / Education Event

December 13 - David Suls, Associate Planner for the City of Takoma
Park, providing safety information to a pedestrian.

On December 13, 2006, Officers from Montgomery and Prince George's Counties and the City of Takoma Park, and about two dozen volunteers and staff from various organizations, participated in an educational and enforcement activity to increase pedestrian safety at the crossroads of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue. The event was organized by the Maryland International Corridor CSAFE (Collaborative Supervision and Focused Enforcement) Initiative.

Click here (pdf) for a report on this event from Erwin Mack, Executive Director of the Takoma/Langley Crossroads Development Authority and chair of the Multi-jurisdictional Pedestrian Safety Committee.