Thursday, May 31, 2012

Springtime Sees Many Activities that Make Montgomery County Safer for Pedestrians


Pedestrian Safety Campaign Targets Blair High School Students: Teens Compete in "Hey You, I'm Looking at You!" Best Eyes and Texting Contests

                      Best Eyes Poster

Photographer shooting best eyes contest participant

As part of Montgomery County’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety in areas with the highest densities of collisions, the County recently launched a campaign aimed at high school students in the Four Corners area of Silver Spring. An event was held at the school with a professional photographer taking pictures of competing teens’ eyes. The eyes of two winners, Hillary Yeboah and John Parsley, were featured on posters that urge pedestrians to establish eye contact with drivers and look both ways before crossing the street with the theme “Hey You, I’m Looking at You!”

 

 

SWAG bracelets

 

  A group of Montgomery Blair high school students was involved in developing the public education campaign aimed at teens. Collision data from the Four Corners area shows that those under 20 years of age and those over 50 have been involved in all collisions, mostly during daylight hours.

 

 

Text message contest winner with Dr. Coleman and Principal Johnson at Blair High School

Also, during the month of May, Montgomery Blair students had the opportunity to answer text message questions about pedestrian safety to win gift cards and other prizes, while learning to be safe pedestrians. Students could access the correct responses to the questions by visiting the website http://www.blairwalkproject.com/. Participating students received silicone wristbands – called SWAG Bracelets - that feature pedestrian safety messages that are either SWAG or FAIL. While to “Make Eye Contact,” “Use Crosswalks,” and “Look Both Ways,” are clearly SWAG behaviors, to “Text + Walk,” or “Get Hit by a Bus,” are clearly FAILS! SWAG and FAIL are slang for good and bad, respectively. In addition, SWAG was used as the campaign acronym, and stands for:

See them see you
Wait for the walk
Always use crosswalks
Go reflective

Mr. Arthur Holmes, Director of MCDOT speaking at event
The bracelets serve as reminders of safe pedestrian behaviors to the teen wearers, as well as other students.
The winner of the pedestrian safety text messaging contest, freshman Cullen Morris, was presented the grand prize at a ceremony on June 7.
MCDOT Director Art Holmes and Montgomery Blair High School Principal Renay Johnson and Assistant Principal Andrew Coleman presented Morris with a new iPad. Morris was chosen in a random drawing out of more than 1,300 correct student entries to win the grand prize. In addition, 12 students received gift certificates to Chipotle during the month of May for correctly answering pedestrian-safety related questions. Pedestrian safety efforts will continue at Blair High School next year.
Click here to see the Transportation Update on the Blair Walk Project. 

                          Second best eyes poster

Monday, May 14, 2012

CountyStat Reviews Pedestrian Safety Initiative


The CountyStat program conducted its ninth review of progress on the County Executive’s Pedestrian Safety Initiative on Monday, May 14, 2012. The results indicate the decline in county-wide pedestrian collisions and fatalities continued in 2011. Not only have there been fewer pedestrian collisions but also a decline in the severity of injuries resulting from collisions.
  • 8% County-wide Reduction in Pedestrian Collisions in 2011
  • Reduction in Severity of Pedestrian Collisions
  • Decline in Pedestrian Fatalities for Third Year
  • 72% Decline of Collisions for Safe Routes to School
  • 45% Decline of Collisions in High Incidence Areas
  • 35% Decline of Collisions Where Traffic Calming Employed
Montgomery County is committed to achieving data-driven results to reduce the frequency and severity of pedestrian collisions. These periodic reviews have become a critical and valuable part of implementing the County Executive’s Pedestrian Safety Initiative. By reviewing data and information from the program, the County works to assure that effective strategies are being employed to improve pedestrian safety. Information evaluated in these reviews provides vital direction on how best to target activities that are reducing the number of pedestrian collisions in the County. A press release has been issued on the conclusions of this most recent CountyStat review.
Click here to view the presentation:
Previous CountyStat Review Presentations can be seen on the County’s CountyStat web site and are listed by dates of the review. Click on the dates to review the presentation:

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Silver Spring Students Make Street Smarts Cool

GAZETTE.net - Maryland Community News - May 2, 2012
To keep their fellow classmates safe and street smart, a group of Montgomery Blair High School students are using words they say adults do not fully understand.
To get hit by a bus is a “fail,” they said, but to use a crosswalk, that is “swag.”
It’s a public safety campaign that neither the county — nor any adults — could have thought of, according to Jeff Dunckel, pedestrian safety coordinator of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation.