A Resident's Guide for Creating Safe and Walkable Communities

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Chapter 3: How can the safety of my neighborhood be improved?

It is not always necessary for community members to come up with a solution to the problems they've identified; typically, local agency professionals will be aware of several possible options. However, the following information will help build your vocabulary and understanding of the type of solutions that may be available to help improve pedestrian conditions in your neighborhood. This information will also help you more effectively communicate and collaborate with agencies and other groups.

Pedestrian transportation improvements are often described in terms of the Four Es:

  1. Engineering—Physical changes to infrastructure (i.e., streets, sidewalks, traffic signals, signs, etc.) that affect the operation and movement of traffic and pedestrians.
  2. Education—Includes strategies that aim to educate pedestrians, drivers, or other groups in order to motivate a change in behavior.
  3. Enforcement—Community-based or law-agency-based measures to enforce laws and regulations related to pedestrians.
  4. Encouragement—Efforts to promote walking and increase the level of walking in a community.
Well-designed streets and crossings can help make walking safe and enjoyable.

A combination of transportation improvements (e.g., making engineering changes as well as implementing education and enforcement campaigns) applied in the same area will likely be more successful at resolving pedestrian problems than only using one approach.

Not every solution described in this section will be appropriate for your particular situation; you should discuss these with your local transportation agency and other partners (pedestrian advocates, health professionals, law enforcement officials, elected officials, etc.) to determine which solution—or set of solutions—will best meet the needs of your community. Use these questions to guide your discussion:

  • Can you change policies affecting the safety of pedestrians? How?
  • What is the range of improvement options that might be considered in this situation? (Even if you've already developed a list of solutions, there might be others you haven't considered.)
  • What is our community's policy or guideline about installing or implementing these measures?
  • Do we have an ongoing procedure for installing and maintaining this improvement?
  • Are there alternatives that should be considered?
  • How much of the budget is set aside for pedestrian programs and improvements in my community? Can it be increased?
  • Is there a neighborhood advisory group that advises the department about traffic and pedestrian issues? If not, can you form one?
  • Who else might share my concern?

Collaborating with neighbors, groups, agencies, and elected officials; sharing research and information; respecting other's perspectives; and seeking creative solutions can help you find reasonable solutions to pedestrian safety issues.

Section Topics:

Engineering

Education

Enforcement

Encouragement

 

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Program Contact

Tamara Redmon

202-366-4077

Dick Schaffer

202-366-2176

What's New

The FHWA Safety Office is continually developing new materials to assist states, localities and citizens in improving pedestrian and bicycle safety. The materials listed on this page were completed recently.

Examples of State/Local Pedestrian Safety Action Plans

Pedestrian Forum - Fall 2009

LTAP/TTAP Interchange, Tamara Redmon

Evaluation of the Focused Approach to Pedestrian Safety Program (PDF 225 KB)

“Not in Roadway” Pedestrian and Bicycle Crashes (PDF 132 KB)

How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PDF 5.14 MB)

FHWA Guidance Memo Contains Provisions to Improve Pedestrian Safety

Toolbox of Countermeasures and Their Potential Effectiveness for Pedestrian Crashes

Pedestrian Safety Guide for Transit Agencies

Evaluation of Pedestrian Countermeasures in Three Cities: San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami

Pedestrian Road Safety Audit Guidelines and Prompt Lists