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FHWA Home / Safety / Local and Rural Road / National Pedestrian Safety Engineering Outreach Campaign

8:30 Session 1:

National Pedestrian Safety Engineering
Outreach Campaign

Technical Working Group II

Qualitative Research Session

LISBOA, Inc.
March 26, 2002

Introduction

The National Pedestrian Safety Engineering Outreach Campaign Technical Working Group II (TWG2) was composed of engineering and traffic safety experts from around the United States. This was the second meeting for the group, there were a few new members, but most of the participants were familiar with the project and arrived ready to work. The group met at Holiday Inn Capital in Washington, DC. All of the TWG members participated in the opening session, which began with introductions and statements of professional affiliation.

Session I: 8:30AM

During Session I, the group members introduced themselves. A personal statement made by Peter Moe of the National Center for Biking and Walking drew particular attention to a recent pedestrian fatality, and he emphasized the importance of TWG 2's work by offering that "we've lost the human quality to our downtowns and communities."

Review TWG1: Dr. Megan Sheehan reviewed the findings and recommendations from TWG1 for the group. Including:

Next, Dr. Megan Sheehan and Ms. Juanita Panlener described the key findings from the 4 focus groups with drivers and pedestrians, which were conducted in December 2001, in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, CA.

Ms. Geri Reinhart-Tse outlined the development of the PSA Concepts for the campaign.

Original Driver Concepts:

1) Photo Album

We see a woman sitting in a chair; the rest of the room is black. She is looking toward the camera as she tells her story about a car crash in which she killed a young child. She is obviously still emotional and shaken by the incident. While she is talking we see blurry images of a car turning into a crosswalk (this could be a mid-block crosswalk or intersection crosswalk), a mother is pushing a stroller. The image freezes on teddy bear flying in mid air from impact. The woman says something like, "I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I wasn't speeding. I was just turning at an intersection. I looked to see if any cars were coming..." Then we see a Hispanic woman, sitting on a couch in a very modest living room. She is flipping through a photo album, tears streaming down her face. We see pictures of a newborn baby, baby's first birthday, out for a walk in the stroller, playing baseball with Dad, etc., while we hear the first woman continue, "I was in a hurry and I wasn't really paying attention, so I didn't see them in the crosswalk. I never thought something like this could happen to me." Cut to a shot of the two women standing together. Each deliver part of the tagline. The idea is that they have teamed up together to make an emotional appeal to the TV audience. The women say something like: "Please, stay alert. You never know who you might run into." (Or: And stay alert. Think of the impact you can make.) End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

2) The Baseball Game

We see the same boy and his father leaving a Little League baseball game. They are excited because the boy hit a home run that day. We see them walking toward a different intersection than before. This time, the intersection has a light and traffic from all four directions. We see traffic heading toward the intersection. Cut to a shot from a driver's perspective, looking through the windshield, as he/she is heading toward the intersection. The light is red, so the driver stops. Cut to the father and son at the crosswalk, waiting for the signal to say, "Walk." Cut back to the driver's perspective again. The camera shows that the driver is looking forward, waiting for a gap in the oncoming traffic; we can also see the father and son waiting to cross. The light turns green and the driver begins to make a left turn. Cut back to father and son, where we see the flashing "walk" signal. Father and son look left, right, and left again, and begin crossing the street. Cut back to the perspective of the driver who is turning left. We hear the sound of screeching tires and we see a look of horror on the father and son's face. The camera freezes and the narrator says something like, "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Make sure you yield to pedestrians. And stay alert. (Show warning sign for pedestrians crossing.) You never know who you might run into. (Or: And stay alert. Think of the impact you can make.) End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

Note: There was a discussion over using the term "crash" or "accident" This issue was addressed later and the TWG suggested using "hit by a car."

3) Rushing To Work--
A mother is helping her child get ready for school. She is very meticulously checking/handing him his lunch, making sure he has his homework, is dressed properly, etc. The boy walks out the door. Cut to the woman heading to work, getting in her car. She is obviously in a hurry, not really paying attention. We see her make a left turn at a green signal without looking for people in the crosswalk. When she makes the turn we see the frightened face of her child (who is walking in the crosswalk). We hear the sound of tires screeching and the camera freezes. The narrator says something like, "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Stay alert. (Show warning sign for pedestrians crossing.) You never know who you might run into. The life you save could be your own child." (Or: And stay alert. Think of the impact you can make.) End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.


Original Pedestrian Concepts:

4) Pied Piper

A beautiful woman is walking down the street. We hear catchy, upbeat music. She is walking/dancing to the music as she cruises down the sidewalk. few people recognize her and start following her. Then a few more people see her and start following too. By the time she gets to the intersection, a small crowd is close behind, dancing to the music with her. She arrives at an intersection and suddenly stops because the signal says "Don't Walk." The lyrics of the music begin to emerge-we hear short, catchy phrases that reinforce the crossing signal messages, (something like: "Walk. Don't Walk. Wait for the next light. That's right.") (Catchy phrases will be technically accurate and visuals that correspond to the phrase will be appropriate.) Some people in the crowd bump into her, and there is a domino affect. The signal then changes to "walk." The woman puts out her arms to hold back the crowd while she looks left, right, and left again, and then crosses the street. (Maybe add Birdseye POV of people entering the crosswalk and keeping within the crosswalk - lyrics reinforcing the message to stay in crosswalk) Again, the crowd follows her. Halfway across the street, the sign starts flashing, "don't walk." We see a close up shot of the flashing red hand. We see the beautiful girl glance at the flashing sign acknowledging the sign but keeps on walking. (Lyrics will reinforce the message of what to do once the crosswalk signal starts flashing) She continues across the street confidently. Everyone follows. We see a shot of feet dancing/walking in the crosswalk (not running or doing anything unsafe). And we see everyone makes it across before the signal changes. As we see them walk away, we hear a narrator say something like, "Every seven minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Pay attention to the pedestrian signals. It could save your life. A message brought to you by..." Continue with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

Tagline: Stay Attentive at Crosswalks
Points discussed: Leave part of group behind at Don't Walk flashing

5) Retro-reflective Pied Piper-Importance and benefits of RR clothing

The same beautiful woman is getting ready to go out for a jog. We see her primp in the mirror before leaving her house. Once outside, it is dark, but we can see her because her outfit has retro-reflective materials on it. We see her jogging down the street. She meets up with other joggers. They begin jogging together. Cut to a bird's eye view of the scene and we see a variety of joggers wearing different colors. Cut to a shot from a driver's perspective, looking through the windshield-from far away, we can see the woman in retro-reflective clothing, but cannot see the others as well or at all. As some of the joggers run toward the car, we see them when they run under a street lamp or as they get much closer to the car. But the whole time, we can see the woman in retro-reflective clothing. From the driver's perspective, we zoom into the retro-reflective woman as we hear the narrator say something like, "When you're walking or running at night, appearance does matter. Cars can see you from a lot farther away if you are wearing retro-reflective clothing. So, go retro and get noticed." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo. Tagline: When You're Walking or Running at Night, Appearance Does Matter-Go Retro and Get Noticed
Idea mentioned: Can we drop "Retro" from "Retro-reflective"

6) Invisible Woman
A woman walks into her house with a bag from the pet store. She has bought the best of everything for her dog. She takes the items out one by one: dog food, dog treats, and a shiny new collar, leash and vest. She opens the package with the vest and we see "retro-reflective" on the packaging. Then she puts on a white runner's jacket and calls the dog. She puts the vest, collar and leash on him and walks out the door. Once outside, we see the woman and the dog going down the steps of the house and on to the sidewalk. (From this we can see the reflective material showing brightly on the dog). From here we change perspectives now to see the woman and her dog run towards the sidewalk and turning left onto the sidewalk (again showing off the reflective quality of the dog). From here the camera follows the path to the sidewalk and pivots around the woman and the dog once on the street. From here the camera moves backward with the woman and the dog in view but gradually getting small and far away even though they're jogging towards the camera. As the camera gets farther we see it's harder and harder to see the woman but we can see the dog via the retro reflective material. The camera keeps pulling back until it becomes obvious that you're looking at the woman and her dog from the interior of a car through the windshield. It should become obvious as well that it's very difficult to see the woman but easy to see the dog. The moment car interior comes into view we hear the narrator say something like, "When you're walking or running at night, appearance does matter. Cars can see you from a lot farther away if you are wearing retro-reflective clothing. Go retro and get noticed." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

7) Retro-reflective Play-by-play

Commentator - Pre-game chit chat style dialog. Here we're introduced to each of the different joggers each one getting ready to go out for a jog. Each jogger obviously concerned about safety and being seen out in the street at night.

Jogger 1 - decidedly chooses white clothing (jersey) as his main outfit for being seen. Commentators quickly offer comments - citing maybe why they think the jogger chose this and how they think it will perform on the road

Jogger 2 - the same as jogger 1 except with different clothes (fluorescent). Again, more commentary from the commentators.

Jogger 3 - Putting on retro reflective clothing. Commentators obviously excited about this... cites all the benefits of using retro reflective, why they think this will be a clear choice to be winner.

All three joggers come running out of the house and as we see them start jogging down the street we cut to the interior of an oncoming vehicle some distance away from the joggers which are approaching. From here we see that the retro reflective jogger is the clear winner in being able to be seen from a distance. The commentators excited about a no contest winner go on to say: "Jogger number one thought she had it right, but the truth is, wearing white doesn't help very much at night. Jogger number two had a good idea, but fluorescent colors can really only be seen during the day, and the reflective strips-well, unless a car's headlights are shining right at them, they're not very effective either. Now, jogger number three hit the nail on the head. She's wearing retro-reflective strips and those puppies can be seen by drivers much farther away than any other material." Then the narrator says something like, "When you're walking or running at night, appearance does matter. Go retro and get noticed." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

8) Jogging Partners

Two women are getting ready to jog together. Woman number one puts on a runner's jacket and running shoes with retro-reflective materials. Woman number two is dressed in white. Cut to the women outside jogging. It is dark and we can see woman number one because she is wearing retro-reflective clothing. The other woman has disappeared in the dark. Cut to a shot of a car heading toward the women. Cut to the driver's perspective, looking out the windshield. We can see retro reflective woman in the distance. The car gets closer to the women and slows down. The driver calls out to retro reflective woman, "Hi honey. I saw you from 3 blocks away!" Then he sees the other woman and says something like, "Oh, hi Nancy. Didn't see you there! Well, have fun." Driver pulls away. As the two women jog out of frame, we hear the narrator say something like, "When you're walking or running at night, appearance does matter. Cars can see you from a lot farther away if you are wearing retro-reflective clothing. Go retro and get noticed." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

10:15 Session 2

Dr. Sheehan and Ms. Panlener outlined the key findings and recommendations from the February 2002 driver and pedestrian focus groups.

Pedestrian Concept Feedback

Revised Concepts

Based on the feedback from the February focus group participants, LISBOA revised the original themes and concepts. Ms. Geri Reinhart presented the new ideas to the group.

Revised Driver Concepts

1) Voices-Family Photos

We see a 40-year-old man standing beside a busy street with a framed photo of his young child. We hear him say something like, "I taught my son the traffic safety rules. He always walked in the crosswalk, looked both ways. As a driver, you should yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, but you didn't. He would have been nine this year." Then we see an eight-year-old African American boy standing on a sidewalk at a busy intersection holding a framed picture of his father. He looks sadly into the camera as we hear his voice over muted traffic sounds. He says something like, "My Dad was walking to work. We were supposed to go to a baseball game that night. But you were in a hurry, and you didn't see him when you turned the corner." Finally, we see a seventy-year-old Hispanic woman standing alongside a busy street, holding a framed picture of her daughter, her face somber. She says something like, "My daughter always looked both ways before crossing the street. She was on her way to a friend's house, just a few blocks away. But you weren't pay weren't paying attention. The light changed and you looked for oncoming traffic before you turned, but you weren't looking out for her." Cut to shot of Pedestrian Warning sign while we hear a narrator say something like: "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Stay alert. You never know who you might run into." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

2) Voices, Family Photos, Children. "Think of the Impact You Could Make"

We see a 40-year-old man standing beside a busy street with a framed photo of his young child. We hear him say something like, Johnny was street smart but the driver was not - he just did not yield to him in the crosswalk. - Then we see an eight-year-old Hispanic boy standing on a sidewalk at a busy intersection holding a framed picture of his father. He looks sadly into the camera as we hear his voice over muted traffic sounds. He says something like, "you drivers are always in a hurry, didn't you see him crossing when you turned the corner - who's going to take care of me now?" Finally, we see a seventy-year-old African American woman standing alongside a busy street, holding a framed picture of her daughter, her face somber. She says something like, "Karen was my hands and feet - The light changed and you looked for oncoming traffic but you weren't looking out for her." Cut to shot of the 3 persons saying "Stay alert. Yield to pedestrians." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

Note: TWG participants asked whether this tagline works for pedestrians.

3) Mother and Child. "I Never Thought Something Like This Could Happen to Me."

We see a mother with a five-year-old child about to enter a crosswalk. They have the "walk" signal. Holding the child's hand, the mother looks left, right and left again, then enters the crosswalk. Then, from a driver's perspective, we see the mother and child in the crosswalk. They get halfway across the street when we hear the sounds of tires screeching. Then, in slow motion, we see her perspective, looking at the car coming toward her. We hear the sounds of a crash and see the image of a teddy bear flying into the air. As soon as we see the terror on the mother's face, we hear a variety of voices, one-by-one saying things like: "I don't drink, I don't do drugs, guess I just wasn't paying attention." We see the teddy bear land on the street; the voices continue, "I looked to see if any cars were coming... I should have yielded to them in the crosswalk." (We see visuals of a car about to turn, waiting for the traffic to pass.) Then all the voices say together: "I never thought something like this could happen to me." Cut to a shot of children crossing the street, the "Yield to Pedestrians" sign is clearly visible. We hear a child say: "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Stay alert. Yield to pedestrians " End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

Revised Pedestrian Concepts

4) Voices, Rushing to the game, with Police Officer.

We see a father and son walking down the street. The boy is wearing a little league uniform and carrying a baseball bat. They are about to reach an intersection. We see a car heading toward the same intersection. The father and son reach the intersection just as the signal changes from "Walk" to "Don't Walk." The father quickly looks left, right and left again, then grabs his son's hand and the two rush across the street. When they are about halfway across the street, we hear the sounds of tires screeching. They turn to see a car heading toward him, a look of terror on their faces. Then, in slow motion, we see the father and son's perspective, looking at the car coming toward him. We hear the sounds of a crash and see the image of the boy's baseball glove flying into the air. As it sails through the air, we hear a variety of voices, one-by-one saying things like: "I always look left and right before I cross the street. I'm a pretty cautious person. I saw the signal change, but I thought I had enough time to make it across. I cross at this intersection all the time. I always make it in time." Then all the voices say together: "I never thought something like this could happen to me." Cut to a shot of the crossing signal as it turns from "Don't Walk" to "Walk". We hear a child say something like: "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Stay alert and obey the traffic signals. Think of the impact you can make." End with music and show U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo.

Or, open on the father and son rushing across the street-Don't Walk is clearly visible. There's the crash and the baseball glove in the air. Then cut to a police officer who explains what each of the signals mean. While the police officer is talking, we see visuals of people crossing at the crosswalk and obeying the signals.

Variation on above, where child explains rules to Dad. Same tagline.

5) Firefighter

We see firefighters on the scene of a fire, walking around in the dark. Their clothing shines in the dark, because it has retro-reflective materials on it. One fire fighter stops, turns towards the camera and starts talking. He says something like, "When you're a firefighter, it's important to be able to see people in the dark. So firefighters wear retro-reflective materials on their clothing." Cut to the firefighter in the station house, he is putting his uniform away. He picks up his backpack and heads for the door. He is wearing casual clothing. He steps outside and says, "When you're out at night, cars can see you from farther away if you're wearing this, and they can see you better than if you're wearing white. There are lots of ways to wear it (gestures towards his clothes-he's wearing several retro clothing items, such as a t-shirt with retro stripe, jacket, and running shoes.) "This shiny stuff saves lives and it could save yours". Cut to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration logo as we hear a narrator say, "Every 7 minutes a pedestrian is killed or injured in a traffic accident. Stay alert and stay visible. Think of the impact you could make."

At this point Stacy Vilas brought up her "Think of the Imprint you could make" piece coming up and suggested that it could tie-in here.

12:45 Session 3-Breakout Sessions

Joy Riddell made a brief presentation on Florida giveaway items (wristbands, etc.). Go to www.3m.com and lifesafety@juno.com for info on who makes these products.

The breakout sessions were designed to allow small group interaction and feedback on the revised concepts. Each group then presented their comments to the larger group.

** See the attached table for breakout group feedback.

Next Steps


Breakout Session Discussion/Recommendations
FHWA National Pedestrian Safety Engineering Outreach Campaign, Technical Working Group 2
March 26, 2002

Discussion Topic

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Driver Concepts

  • Liked A alternate
  • Concepts A & B
  • Concept E
  • Concept A-change Michael "was always safe" to M "was always careful." Put in an elderly couple, change 7 yr-old girl to 70 yr-old woman...yield and stop for pedestrians, every 7...by a motor vehicle"
  • Did not like A alt., too anti-driver.

Suggested that wording should be added to say: "...but I should have seen the people in the crosswalk-why didn't I stop"

  • Concept C-Multi-threat situation. Walking can be safe, when you follow the signals.
  • Liked B best.
  • Didn't like A as much-not as gripping.
  • Family Photos-contrived. Maybe use a memorial on a light pole, taped-up pictures and flowers
  • Valerie Edgar says DOTs might not support memorials. Perhaps in a storefront or on a building.
  • Liked the last concept.

Pedestrian Concepts

  • "Impact" tagline may not work for pedestrians. Pedestrian spots should follow "follow signals" with "look L, R, L"
  • In last pedestrian concept, preferred that the child say "no Dad, I learned this in school"
  • Specific messages for pedestrians would be good inside buttons
  • The group felt that the child educating the Dad is unrealistic, but liked the Police officer spot.
  • Liked the last one, as long as gender includes women.
  • C1 and C2 are too preachy. C2 might work if less preachy, works better with grandparent and kid (cub scout)
  • Liked D best. Want to work in comparison materials.
  • Liked firefighter one only, as amended.

Recommendations for Modifications

  • Multiple Threat situation is important enough to merit
  • Look at cell phone usage for both drivers and pedestrians
 
  • B-change "I thought the people in the Crosswalk would wait for me" to "I looked for cars, I should have looked for people as well" TWG seems to prefer this to earlier versions. "I should have stopped for them" as opposed to "yield"
  • A-Too busy. As a driver, you should have yielded to him change to "stopped".
  • Too many pieces/vignettes to both As.
 

Term for Crash

  • Preferred "Hit by a car," "collision," or even leave out the word at the end of the PSAs, as it's obvious what happened
  • No suggestions
  • No suggestions
  • No suggestions

Suggestions for Addressing Driver Arrogance

  • No recommendations
  • No suggestions
  • "Zoom Zoom-type car ad, that changes into a driver aggressiveness PSA."
  • New tagline: "You don't own the road, quit acting like it." Near miss concept popular here.

Other

  • Reminded the group that TWG1 had recommended a 60/40 split for the campaign, favoring Drivers
  • Radio spots: Tailor all to drivers, due to potential listenership
  • Suggested Concept: Animated girl walking with her brother, "I had a dream last night, and everybody stopped for me," etc. and they get to a corner, and there's a multiple threat, and changes from animated to real, and you hear the collision, and it's real, and you see the girl in a hospital, in a coma...
  • Suggested Concept: Speedway. Drivers pulling into a pit, pedestrians come in, like NASCAR. "Your neighborhood is not a speedway."
  • Don't do TV, it's too expensive.
  • If education was the goal, it's okay to have a lighter approach, than in the driver one.
  • Make sure these are saleable to the media, and have a long shelf-life.
  • Say that all of us are walkers when the stats come up.
  • Some did not like the 7-minute stat. Leverson says let's test it in the next focus groups.
  • Best to find contacts to hand-deliver PSAs in major markets. Probably FHWA's job.
  • New Concepts A near miss, not always a fatality-Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy-Near miss, guy slaps the hood of the car.
  • Look at the life of a child killed, what might have been lost
  • Tools for conspicuity (Flashlight, etc.)-Nobody seems to have commented on that.
  • Driver Tagline: Every 7 minutes, a pedestrian is hit by a car. Look for pedestrians, then yield for them.
  • Elderly lady in Crosswalk, music like Teabury Shuffle, Tagline: "Every 7 ...Know what to do in a crosswalk."
  • "You wanna go? You wanna go? Well you can't, I'm here right now"
  • Pgs.1,2,3. Bottom-A true story, name of city, year.
  • Pg. 4-didn't like Dad kills kid
  • Pg. 5-didn't like kids knows more than dad
  • Firefighters-coming out of burning bldg. You see his flashlight, then hers, then RR material, then white a towel wrapped around a kid she's bringing out. "Make Yourself Visible" "See How Well It Works"
  • Radio-serious-couple seconds dead air, "this moment of silence brought to you by the parents of the 50,000 children killed each year"
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