By Keith Whitcomb Jr. [email protected]
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Car crash fatalities are trending downward across the country, according to the Vermont Department of Health, but the same isn’t true for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Department of Health and the Agency of Transportation have rolled out an awareness campaign to improve walker and cyclist safety, said Megan Rigoni, pedestrian safety coordinator with the Department of Health. It’s modeled after similar programs in North Carolina and Connecticut.
The “Watch for Me-VT” campaign, she said, is supposed to not only make the public more aware of traffic safety but to encourage cooperation and communication between groups whose job it is to tackle those concerns, namely law enforcement, municipalities and schools.
She said the program is a joint venture between the two departments and wasn’t created by the Legislature. It’s been in the planning phase for about a year now and was unveiled Tuesday.
Rigoni said the plan is to see how it catches on, then approach specific communities about possibly working more with the program. The overall goal is to create a shift in people’s mindsets, having them think more about pedestrian and bicyclist safety when undertaking safety or transportation projects.
The program will highlight some existing state policies and guidelines. For town planners, it directs to the Complete Streets policy — bit.ly/1121complete — which calls for those planning road projects to consider the needs of everyone who might use them.
There’s also the Safe Routes to School program — https://saferoutes.vermont.gov/ — which guides schools through steps they can take to make walking to school easier and safer for students.
Rigoni said data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that across the country, 6,283 pedestrians were killed in 2018, the highest since 1990. In Vermont, in 2017, nine pedestrians were killed in 2017 while 133 pedestrians and 179 bicyclists went to the hospital after being involved in a crash with a motor vehicle.
She said surveys the state has taken show about 10% of adults don’t feel safe walking in their communities, while about a third of middle school students say they hardly ever wear a bicycle helmet or never do.
The Watch for Me VT website can be found at bit.ly/1121watchme. It contains graphics people can download for use in promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.