MnDOT Launches Pedestrian Safety Campaign

MnDOT Office of Communications
9/25/2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Department of Transportation and several partners are launching a new statewide pedestrian safety campaign with crosswalk events in five Minnesota cities Tuesday, Sept. 25, from 3 – 6 p.m.  

Crosswalk locations:

Duluth – Lake Avenue/Superior Street
Minneapolis – Hennepin Avenue South/West Lake Street
Minneapolis – Chicago Avenue South/East Lake Street
St. Cloud – Fifth Avenue South/Second Street South (Highway 23)
St. Paul  – West Seventh Street/Kellogg Boulevard West
Rochester – Second Street South/Broadway (Highway 63)

Share the Road crossing ambassadors will raise awareness for pedestrian safety by holding a banner that provides safety tips for pedestrians and motorists while crossing in marked crosswalks and following the crosswalk law.

“The number of pedestrian fatalities remains at about 40 per year, even though total fatalities on Minnesota roads have been steadily decreasing” said Sue Groth, MnDOT state traffic engineer. “This is an important area to focus on because pedestrians are more vulnerable than motorists who are protected by the vehicle, seatbelts and air bags during a crash.”

The campaign aims to increase the percentage of motorists and pedestrians who follow the Minnesota crosswalk law and exhibit safe walking and driving behaviors. This includes pedestrians making eye contact with drivers before proceeding into the crosswalk and motorists always being prepared to stop for crossing pedestrians at every corner. Every corner is a crosswalk. These behaviors will help reduce pedestrian-vehicle crashes on Minnesota roadways.

This fall’s launch also includes bus advertising, restaurant/bar bathroom advertising and billboards across the state, as well as radio messages on Minnesota Public Radio and 93X-FM. It is an extension of the existing Share the Road campaign for bicyclists and motorists.

The launch is happening in the fall because October is traditionally the deadliest month for pedestrians.

About Share the Road        

The Share the Road pedestrian safety campaign provides materials, information and resources for anyone looking to improve pedestrian safety.

After the launch, the campaign heavily relies on local partners, community groups and schools to spread pedestrian safety messages. All materials, information and campaign resources including crash facts and safety tips are available at www.sharetheroadmn.org.

Department of Public Safety pedestrian crash facts

• To date, there have been 23 pedestrian deaths in Minnesota in 2012. There were 16 at this time in 2011.

• October is traditionally the deadliest month for pedestrians, followed by November and December.

• Annual pedestrian deaths in the last five years: 2011 - 40; 2010 - 36; 2009 - 41;
  2008 - 25; 2007 - 33.

Toward Zero Deaths

The Share the Road pedestrian safety campaign supports Minnesota’s Toward Zero Death efforts.

TZD is the state’s cornerstone traffic safety program that is a partnership between the departments of Public Safety, Transportation and Health, the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Board and other traffic safety partners.

A primary vision of the TZD program is to create a traffic safety culture in Minnesota, in which everyone supports a goal of zero road fatalities by practicing and promoting safe and smart behaviors. TZD focuses on the application of four strategic areas to reduce crashes — education, enforcement, engineering and emergency trauma response.

Additional from Minnesota Public Radio

"The laws are harder to enforce, and it involves both motorist and pedestrian behavior," Groth said. "A lot of this could be solved just with pedestrians and motorists looking for each other, making eye contact and following the laws."

Groth said many motorists don't yield to pedestrians who are in the crosswalk, and many pedestrians either don't pay attention or cross the street against the light or away from the crosswalk.

The numbers bear that out. Because motorists and pedestrians are equally at fault, transportation officials are targeting both groups with the safety campaign.
Fall is a good time to get people's attention, Minnesota State Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said.

Minnesota commuters spent 45 hours stuck in traffic in 2010

Fox 9 News
By Tim Blotz
September 27, 2011

If it seems like you are spending hours stuck in traffic -- it's because you are. A new nation-wide traffic congestion study conducted by the Texas Traffic Institute has found the traffic in Minnesota is among the worst in the nation.

The study raises the red flag on metros, such as the Twin Cities, and it comes with a warning: Do something now, or congestion will only skyrocket when the economy recovers and people go back to work.

Researchers collected vehicle speed data from GPS units and mobile devices across the nation and crowd-sourced the data. Using those tools, they determined that Minnesota commuters spent 45 hours stuck in traffic in 2010.

That number ranks the Twin Cities as the 10th worst metropolitan area in the country for traffic, though the metro is tied with Dallass-Fort Worth.

The study also found that congestion in Minnesota causes drivers to burn an extra 20 gallons of gas each year, which puts Minnesota at the 12th worst in the nation, according to the study.

Perhaps the bleakest number the study found is that the extra traffic time taps the pocketbook to the tune of $913 each year.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation was not surprised by those numbers and said -- in some ways -- they are encouraging because it mirrors their own data that shows congestion has dropped, especially in the past five years.

Still, there are not big enough budgets to build more lanes and more roads, so MnDOT is tackling the problem by making better use of the roads we already have. Continue Reading

 

The 2011 Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, illustrates congested conditions in 2010 on a number of levels:

• The amount of delay endured by the average commuter was 34 hours, up from 14 hours in 1982.
• The cost of congestion is more than $100 billion, nearly $750 for every commuter in the U.S.
• “Rush hour” is six hours of not rushing anywhere.
• Congestion is becoming a bigger problem outside of “rush hour,” with about 40 percent of the delay occurring in the mid-day and overnight hours, creating an increasingly serious problem for businesses that rely on efficient production and deliveries.

The economic recession has only provided a temporary respite from the growing congestion problem. When the economic growth returns, the average commuter is estimated to see an additional 3 hours of delay by 2015 and 7 hours by 2020. By 2015, the cost of gridlock will rise from $101 billion to $133 billion – more than $900 for every commuter, and the amount of wasted fuel will jump from 1.9 billion gallons to 2.5 billion gallons – enough to fill more than 275,000 gasoline tanker trucks.