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Street Smart Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Campaign

As evening commutes went dark with the end of daylight savings time, regional law enforcement officials held a stopping-distance demonstration on November 7, 2007 to highlight the need for drivers and pedestrians to pay close attention to one another. As part of the Street Smart Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety campaign, the demonstration showcased the lengthy distances required for vehicles to come to a halt at different speeds. Higher speed crashes are much more lethal to pedestrians. 

Since speeding exponentially increases the likelihood that pedestrians will be hit, injured and killed, the region's police agencies are stepping up enforcement efforts.  Additionally, Street Smart includes an extensive public education campaign – with a "Steel vs. Flesh" theme – to boost awareness of the dangers confronted by pedestrians and bikers every day. 

Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 25% of those killed on the Washington region's roads – approximately 89 deaths every year. Pedestrian fatalities outnumber homicides in many of the participating jurisdictions. Research shows the responsibility for pedestrian incidents is shared between drivers and pedestrians.  The region also sees approximately 3,000 pedestrian injuries each year; and approximately 92 percent of pedestrians involved in local crashes with motor vehicles sustained one or more injuries. 

The Street Smart pedestrian safety effort focuses on the "three E's:" education, enforcement and evaluation.

• Education targets pedestrians and drivers, and uses recurring waves of radio, bus advertising, internet ads, hand-outs and posters to get the message out. Advertising conveys simple messages such as "Stop for Pedestrians" and "Cross Streets Carefully", and while media events help publicize enforcement.   A strong focus of the campaign is to reach the area's Hispanic residents through Spanish-language brochures and advertising outreach. 
  
• Enforcement provides an incentive for residents to heed the campaign messages, and a focus for media attention.
  
• Evaluation is vital to understanding the awareness level for the message and the future direction of the campaign.

The Street Smart campaign was created by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee of the Transportation Planning Board in 2002. Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority provide major funding, with contributions from Arlington County, Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, the City of Alexandria, the City of Manassas Park, the City of Gaithersburg, and the City of Rockville .

The following Street Smart materials are available for download in Adobe PDF format:

• 2006 Annual Report and Campaign Summary
• Report on Pedestrian Injuries in the Washington DC Metropolitan Region
• 2007 Streetsmart Poster
• 2007 Streetsmart Poster (Spanish)
• 2007 Streetsmart Tips Brochure
• 2007 Foreign Language Crosswalks Handouts
  • Amharic
  • Chinese
  • Korean
  • Spanish
  • Vietnamese

Program Contact

Mike Farrell - (202) 962-3760