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FHWA Home / Safety / Local and Rural Road / The National Pedestrian Safety Campaign

Anytown Drive for Pedestrian Safety - The National Pedestrian Safety Campaign


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date here

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Name here, Campaign Coordinator

Phone number here

Email address here

Anytown Drive for Pedestrian Safety

Anytown, State*-Local businesses, government officials, law enforcement, and educators are urging parents and the community to take part in the Anytown Drive for Pedestrian Safety event next Saturday, (date here) from 10 a.m. to noon. The drive is part of the Anytown Pedestrian Safety Campaign and will include a tour of Anytown's more dangerous intersections for pedestrians. Confirmed participants to date include Mayor Jane Smith, Anytown Chief of Police Helen Reilly, Anytown High School Principal Mike Walters, Community Life newspapers' head of distribution Celia Rodriguez, and Anytown Pizza Chain's President, Josh Brown. The goal is to educate drivers about pedestrian safety, with an emphasis on people who drive to work and parents who drive their children to school.

"While our numbers are low, we still have an unacceptable number of fatalities and injuries each year due to pedestrian car crashes," said Anytown Chief of Police Helen Reilly. "It's important that drivers look for pedestrians, and stop for them," Reilly added. The tour will end at one of Anytown's busiest intersections: Main Street and Washington Boulevard. Participants are encouraged to park in the Anytown Bank parking lot where Herman and other officials will discuss specific driving scenarios in which drivers should watch for pedestrians, including: when they make a left turn against traffic, a right turn, or a midblock crossing.

"We wanted to reach as many drivers as possible and we figure just about everyone either drives to work or drives their children to school," said (name here), the Anytown Pedestrian Safety Campaign Coordinator. "So we partnered with the business community to distribute campaign materials to workers and we partnered with educators to distribute materials to parents," he/she added.

To take part in the campaign, businesses are pledging to send one employee to the drive who will also be responsible for distributing campaign materials at work. "I drive to school five days a week, and I drive for Anytown Pizza Chain three nights a week," said Anytown High School Student Ben Braddock. "The posters and brochures they gave me to hand out really make you think. I pay more attention to pedestrians now," added Braddock.

Parents from Anytown Elementary, Middle School and High School will all receive brochures in the mail. "I think it's important for all drivers to pay better attention," said Steve Ellwood, parent of two boys attending Anytown High School. "We're all busy, we're all in a rush sometimes, but as the brochure points out, it's always a good idea to look for a pedestrian when you're turning, or even just driving up the street," Ellwood added.

As part of the campaign, local law enforcement is conducting an event of their own. For two weeks, police officers in unmarked cars will be watching a variety of intersections (officials would not disclose which ones.) Drivers who do not yield to pedestrians in crosswalks will receive a ticket (or warning). The back of the summons (or brochure) will include a list of local statistics about pedestrian fatalities and injuries.

For more information, please contact (Campaign Coordinator's name here) at (phone number) or (email address).

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Page last modified on June 17, 2011
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