Advancing Pedestrian Safety Using Education and Enforcement Efforts in Pedestrian Focus Cities and States: North Carolina

The goal of this effort was to assist selected communities in North Carolina in implementing and evaluating education and enforcement activities. The team worked with communities in the Triangle area of NC to develop a comprehensive, community-wide pedestrian safety program. The program was influenced by an understanding of health behavior theories and best practices and informed by several data sources, including an analysis of pedestrian crash data, site visits, stakeholder input, and pedestrian safety action plans. The intervention used several strategies including radio ads, printed material, paid advertising, community engagement, earned media, and training of law enforcement officers to build their level of effectiveness in the project. Program evaluation included multiple measures, including tracking program implementation records, self-reporting by law enforcement regarding their knowledge, attitudes, and capacity, and driver yielding behaviors. Results identified significant use of paid media to spread pedestrian safety messages and large amounts of positive earned media coverage. The officer training course resulted in significant improvements in knowledge, self-reported behaviors, and capacity to perform enforcement operations to support the campaign. While first-year enforcement operations were noteworthy, more effort is needed to maximize the visibility of the enforcement and plan more routine, sustained efforts throughout the region. Driver yielding behaviors varied by location but significant changes from the pre-enforcement period to the post-enforcement period were not observed in the first-year time frame. The exception was at sites where law enforcement was at its highest intensity. Yielding rates were associated with site characteristics such as crossing placement and speed limits, and may be affected by seasonal trends. Lessons learned on program development and deliveries are provided.

• Record URL:
  http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/812286-PromotingPedSafetyEdu-NC.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  Highway Safety Research Center
  Chapel Hill, NC  United States  27599

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Sandt, Laura
  • 0000-0001-9468-7891
  • Gallagher, James
  • Gelinne, Dan
• Publication Date: 2016-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Draft Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 390p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Behavior; Crash analysis; Drivers; Education and training; Evaluation; Implementation; Law enforcement personnel; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Public information programs; Safety programs; Traffic law enforcement; Yielding
• Geographic Terms: North Carolina
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01612311
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT HS 812 286
• Contract Numbers: DTNH22-09-H-00278
• Files: HSL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 28 2016 10:44AM