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FHWA Safety: First graphic from left courtesy of (http://www.pedbikeimages.org/Dan Burden)
Home > Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety > Pedestrian Safety > A Resident's Guide for Creating Safe and Walkable Communities > Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Who can help me make my neighborhood a safer place to walk?

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Step 4: Contact agency representatives and present your case

If your neighborhood association wants to make pedestrian crossings safer on a roadway, you could work closely with local transportation planning and engineering staff to get approval for appropriate engineering, education, and enforcement treatments. You can then work with staff to help educate elected officials on the benefits of these types of improvements and show your support for them. Your neighborhood association could also convince elected officials of the need to improve the safety of pedestrian crossings on the roadway; elected officials would then ask staff to come up with specific solutions to make the crossing safer.

Developing a relationship with transportation professionals will help ensure they understand the issues and have the information needed to make informed decisions. All public agencies in charge of roadway improvements have a public process that will allow you to participate in the decision-making at some level. Here are a few tips to ensure that your efforts are effective:

  • Make contact in person or via phone, even if you send a letter or email.
  • Be brief, rational, reasonable, and to the point. Offer to provide the documentation or evidence you have collected related to the problem.
  • Ask for specific actions or state a specific problem—what is the concern, and how do you think it could be handled?
  • Consider scheduling a brief walking tour to illustrate your points. Try to schedule your walk during a time when the problems are evident.
  • Listen carefully to their concerns and issues and try to find common ground.
  • Follow up. Be persistent.
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