Realistic Walk Smart pedestrian crash demonstration shows life-or-death necessity of slowing down

(WILMINGTON, REHOBOTH BEACH) DE – Delaware’s pedestrian safety education campaign kicked off this week with demonstrations of the effects of speed on pedestrian safetyin New Castle County and Sussex County. The “Walk Smart” campaign, a collaborative effort between the Office of Highway Safety (OHS), the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), and state and local law enforcement with other partners, is meant to educate the public about safe walking and crossing practices to improve safety on the road. The campaign comes at a significant time as May has trended as highest for pedestrian crashes in Delaware.

“Speed is one factor that is almost always the difference between life and death when it comes to pedestrian crashes,” said Jana Simpler, Director of the Delaware Office of Highway Safety, which is coordinating the Walk Smart campaign with DelDOT.

“Even one pedestrian crash on our roadways is too many, and we are working hard to create strategies to eliminate these crashes,” Simpler said at the kick-off events. “Although quite simple, this message is vitally important.”

To drive home this point, the events included a demonstration of vehicle stopping time and distance, featuring a wire-frame model of a child crossing the street. At 25 mph, the vehicle stops in time. At 35 mph, the car slams into the model with devastating force.

“The lesson here is clear,” said Adam Weiser, DelDOT Safety Programs Manager. “If a pedestrian is struck by a car going 25 mph or slower, the odds of survival are good. At speeds above 35 mph, the impact is likely to be fatal.”

Every eight minutes a pedestrian or cyclist is injured on our nation’s roadways. From 2012-2013, 754 reportable pedestrian crashes occurred on Delaware’s roadways; 75 percent occurred in New Castle County with most in the Wilmington area. Sussex County has also experienced an increase in pedestrian crashes. There were 20 pedestrian-related crashes along Route 1 from Lewes to Fenwick Island from 2011-2013.

“The vast majority of these crashes can be prevented if drivers reduce their speed and pedestrians use care along roadways. Educating the public about pedestrian fatalities and how to prevent them will certainly help save lives and make our roads safer,” said Lewis D. Schiliro, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

In an effort to combat these statistics, the Walk Smart campaign involves a combination of law enforcement stopping violators and educating them about safe walking and crossing practices and public awareness activities. OHS and DelDOT along with state and local police departments will conduct pedestrian safety patrols along roadways with high pedestrian crashes. The agencies will distribute pedestrian safety informational materials that highlight safe pedestrian practices along with reflective items with the “Walk Smart” message.

“Troopers will continue to emphasize and bring awareness that pedestrian crashes often result in deadly consequences,” said Sergeant Paul G. Shavack, Director of Public Information for the Delaware State Police. “The key to stopping these predictable and preventable incidents from occurring is through education and targeted enforcement for the safety of both pedestrians and motorists. Troopers will focus enforcement efforts on pedestrians who are crossing at areas other than designated crosswalks, walking along a roadway when a sidewalk is available, as well as motorists who fail to obey laws designed to ensure pedestrian safety.” 

In an effort to further enhance the Walk Smart campaign, Christiana Care and Beebe Healthcare have joined forces to provide education about the devastating effects of pedestrian crashes.

“At Christiana Care, we all too often are called upon to provide emergency care for our neighbors who are injured while they are walking,” said Glen Tinkoff, M.D., associate vice chair of surgery for emergency surgical services at Christiana Care Health System, which includes Delaware’s only level one adult trauma center, at Christiana Hospital. “We welcome this opportunity to partner with our state leaders to educate the public about pedestrian safety through Walk Smart.”

Pictures and video of the demonstration can be found on OHS YouTube and Facebook pages.  To learn more about the campaign, visit http://ohs.delaware.gov/PedestrianSafety.

YouTube: http://youtu.be/4blq-Q-fwPM

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OHS Launches the 2013 Aggressive Driving Campaign

Dover – The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) wants to know if you turn into a different person behind the wheel as they launch the agency’s aggressive driving campaign for 2013.  The agency is building upon the brand “Respect the Sign” and reminding all drivers that aggressive driving is more than just speeding and is highlighting the other traffic behaviors drivers are likely to do such running stop signs, failing to yield, and changing lanes in an unsafe manner. The campaign will include high-visibility enforcement and awareness initiatives aimed at reducing aggressive driving-related traffic deaths.

OHS will conduct four 2-week mini waves of enforcement beginning May 7th and ending in September. Enforcement will be accompanied by outreach efforts focused on reducing aggressive driving related crashes.

Since January 1^st of this year there have been 24 fatal crashes in Delaware, 8 of which were caused by aggressive driving behaviors.  In 2012, of the State’s 116 fatal crashes, 35% (38 crashes) were attributed to aggressive driving behaviors.  Of these 38 fatal crashes, a driver’s failure to grant the right of way caused 10 crashes, and speeding caused 16 crashes.

“Most individuals don’t realize that they can turn into an aggressive driver behind the wheel,” said Jana Simpler, Director of OHS. “The aggressive driving behaviors one does behind the wheel, such as speeding, tailgating, failure to yield to other drivers, have led to many tragedies on our roadways. The focus of this campaign is to not only enforce traffic safety laws and reduce aggressive driving crashes, but to also have drivers ask themselves ‘Do I really do that behind the wheel?’”

OHS will conduct various public outreach and education activities including promotion of the website www.AggressivedrivingDE.com for individuals to take a quiz to find out what type of driver they are, learn about the violations & penalties for aggressive driving, and how to deal with ‘that guy’ if they encounter one on the road.  Life sized traffic signs with ‘that guy’ excuse for ignoring the sign, will also be placed at select partnering locations through the state, and a partnership with the University of Delaware cheerleading team to lead a “Don’t Be Aggressive” cheer demonstration. OHS will also partner with AAA to share the information with their teen driving campaign.

Delaware State Police in all three counties, along with the Dover, Middletown, New Castle County, Smyrna, and Wilmington Police agencies will be conducting aggressive driving patrols during the 4 waves of enforcement.  Police are being asked to focus on the top four aggressive driving violations in the State, with the primary focus on drivers who fail to grant the right of way to other drivers.  Failure to grant the right of way violations include drivers who turn left in front of another vehicle, pull out in front of other vehicles at stop signs and fail to merge safely.  It is also the primary contributing factor in aggressive driving related fatal and injury crashes.

New paid media messaging has been developed and will be incorporated throughout the 4 waves of enforcement including cable tv, print, media rich interactive online advertising, Pandora, static tv ads in all 4 DMV locations, along with posters, fliers, and table tents.

Individuals who are stopped under Delaware’s aggressive driving law can be charged both with aggressive driving and charged for each individual traffic offense.  Penalties include fines between $100 – $300 for a first offense, 6 points on your license, possible jail time, and mandatory attendance at an 8-hour behavior modification course.  The 2012 “Respect The Sign” campaign resulted in 3,120 citations being issued for aggressive driving behaviors and 30 individuals arrested for Aggressive Driving.

For more information on Respect The Sign campaign or any of the other OHS campaigns visit www.ohs.delaware.gov, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArriveAliveDE or follow us on Twitter @DEHighwaySafe.