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During the month of October, the River to Sea TPO, along with its partners, including the Florida Department of Transportation, will observe National Pedestrian Safety Month.
In 2021, there were 7,388 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in the United States. That is 20 pedestrians a day and 142 pedestrians a week. On average, a pedestrian was killed every 71 minutes and injured every nine minutes in traffic crashes in 2021. (Source: NHTSA)
In February 2023, the River to Sea TPO adopted a vision of Target Zero for its five safety performance measures. This means that no death or serious injury on our roadways is acceptable. Achieving the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries requires the implementation of a Safe System approach, which was founded on the principles that humans make mistakes and that human bodies have a limited ability to tolerate crash impacts.
The Safe System Approach focuses on the following five key objectives:
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Safer People: Encouraging safe, responsible behavior by those who use our roads, and creating conditions that prioritize their ability to reach their destination unharmed.
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Safer Roads: Designing roadway environments to mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, encouraging safer behaviors, and facilitating safe travel by the most vulnerable users.
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Safer Speeds: Promoting safer speeds in all roadway environments through a combination of thoughtful, targeted, context-appropriate outreach campaigns and judicious enforcement.
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Safer Vehicles: Expanding the availability of vehicle designs and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes on both occupants and non-occupants.
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Post-Crash Care: Enhancing the survivability of people in crashes through expedient access to emergency medical care. Creating a safe working environment for vital first responders and prevent secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices.
Everyone, including those who plan, design, build, operate, and use our transportation system, shares the responsibility for roadway safety. It is vitally important that we all work together to prevent and eliminate crashes that result in serious injuries and death on our roadways.
For more information on the Safe System Framework click here.
Want to know how walkable your community is? NHTSA's Walkability Checklist is a good resource for evaluating your neighborhood.
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