national walk summit october 29, 2015 cooperative approaches to pedestrian safety: massachusetts

National Walk SummitOctober 29, 2015

Cooperative Approaches to

Pedestrian Safety: Massachusetts

–Krystian Boreyko• Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and

Security – Highway Safety Division

–Stacey Beuttell • WalkBoston, Program Director

Panelists

• National average for pedestrian fatalities as percentage of total roadway fatalities is 14%

• Massachusetts has an average of 21%

• MA had 68 pedestrian fatalities in 2013

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) - http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS

Pedestrian Safety in Massachusetts

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20135.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

Percentage Pedestrian (MA)

Percentage Pedestrian (National)

Perc

enta

ge o

f Fat

aliti

es

Pedestrian Fatalities as a Percentage of Total Traffic Fatalities

Pedestrian Fatalities as a Percentage of Total Traffic Fatalities

• Overtime enforcement grant

• Awarded to municipal Police Departments – all communities are eligible for funding contingent upon availability

• 70 communities currently utilizing funds to enforce bicycle and pedestrian safety laws

• Funds also used to purchase safety equipment

• Drivers can be unaccustomed to sharing the road – grant helps promote safety practices

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety – Highway Safety Office

• Grant awards range from $3,000 - $7,500

• Diversity of participating communities

– 14 new ones for 2016

• 24 cities and towns witness 51% of MA pedestrian fatalities

• 15 of them participate in the program

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety – Highway Safety Office

• Officers deployed to areas of cycling and walking activity

• Monitor conditions to ensure motorists yield to pedestrians, don’t occupy bike lanes, etc.

• Pedestrian decoy strategy: plainclothes officer tests to see if vehicles yield at crosswalks

• Grant is used by rural, suburban, and urban communities

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety – Highway Safety Office

Participating Communities

Paid and Earned Media

2014 - Be Seen Be Safe:• In collaboration with Quincy

Police Department• Distributed to communities

participating in the enforcement grant that year

2015 – Common Sense Saves Lives:• Four 15 second ads • Played 244 times, garnered

602,254 impressions• Targeted 25-54 demographic• Networks: Food, ESPN,

HGTV, Lifetime, TLC, and MSNBC

• Also distributed to all Police Departments for usage on social media

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Awareness and Enforcement Program

Description:• 12 communities in pilot program, six in second year• More data-driven than Highway Safety grant program

Program Goals:• Reduce the number of crashes involving bicyclists and

pedestrians• Determine if there is a built environment reason for

crashes and/or road user behavior, and invest in improved infrastructure

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Awareness and Enforcement Program

Program Goals cont’d:• Build capacity at the municipal level around improving

the bicycle and pedestrian environment• Raise awareness• Educate on needs• Study Tours• Road Safety Audits

Selection Criteria

Communities selected based on:

• High rates of bicyclist and pedestrian crashes

• High rates of bicyclist and pedestrian activity

• Participation in the MDPH Mass in Motion Program

• Ratio of non-motorist to all crashes

• Number of EMS calls

Year 1BrocktonCambridgeFall RiverHaverhillLynnNew BedfordNewtonSalemPittsfieldQuincySomervilleWatertown

Year 2BrooklineDennisHolyokeNorthamptonWalthamWorcester

Participating Communities

Awareness and Enforcement Education and Assessment

Regional PlanningAgencies

Program Framework

Awareness and Enforcement

Police data

Reasons for “not following the rules”

Pedestrians• Crosswalks are too far away• Crosswalks are faded• Didn’t want to wait to cross; WALK takes too long to come on• “Didn’t know I had to use crosswalk all the time”• “Just being lazy”• Running for the bus

Motorists• Didn’t know required to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks• Didn’t see pedestrian - distracted• Saw person in the crosswalk, but it was too late to stop• Unaware that stopping in a crosswalk was not allowed

Use of crash data

HSIP crash clusters

• within top 5% of all clusters in the region

• used as starting point to determine assessment locations

Walk Assessments

Walk Assessments

Lessons so far . . .

Communities fall into three categories:

• Municipal staff may have the will, but not the support of elected officials

• Elected officials may have the will, but not the support of the municipal staff

• Communities may have the will (staff + elected), but not the capacity

• Overlap:– 13 communities participate in both programs– Both grants fund enforcement

• Opportunities for collaboration:– Highway Safety has wide reach– Feedback from local Police Departments on areas of

concern helps develop a statewide map of hot spots– MassDOT has more targeted approach

Turning Overlap Into Coordination

Stacey BeuttellWalkBoston617-367-9255sbeuttell@walkboston.org

Krystian Boreyko617-725-3367krystian.boreyko@state.ma.usmass.gov/highwaysafety

Contact Information

Thank you!