Public education and information outreach employing pedestrian safety groups and pedestrians to raise both pedestrian and motorists’ knowledge of pedestrian safety and associated laws.
Benefits to Texas Transportation Safety
This project strengthens collaboration among statewide stakeholders and promotes the exchange of data, strategies, and resources to reduce pedestrian-related crashes across Texas. Through the coordination of the Texas Pedestrian Safety Coalition, the Pedestrian Safety Task Force, and topic-focused events such as the Statewide Pedestrian Safety Forum, the project fosters a consistent, data-driven approach to improving pedestrian safety. These efforts enhance communication between state, regional, and local partners; encourage the implementation of proven safety countermeasures; and expand the reach of educational materials and best practices.
By facilitating knowledge sharing and maintaining an online resource library, the project ensures that transportation safety professionals, community organizations, and law enforcement agencies have access to up-to-date information to guide their efforts. This coordinated approach advances Texas’s broader transportation safety goals by increasing awareness of pedestrian laws, improving the effectiveness of local safety programs, and promoting safer walking environments in communities across the state.
Project Need and Approach
Texas continues to experience a significant pedestrian safety problem. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Crash Records Information Service (CRIS) data indicated that in 2022 there were 816 pedestrian fatalities, which represents a reduction of only three pedestrian fatalities from 2021. This comes after a 15.24% increase in pedestrian fatalities between 2020 and 2021. Moreover, this follows a staggering 69.67% increase in the ten-year period between 2012-2022. These data show that pedestrian fatalities remain high in Texas – and while there was a slight reduction in 2022-the number of pedestrians dying on Texas roadways is consistent with a troubling ten-year trend where pedestrian fatalities have significantly increased.
Until TxDOT funded the original version of this grant in FY2018, there was no mechanism in Texas to conduct a statewide, unified pedestrian safety project that brought together pedestrian safety stakeholders, to share information (lessons learned, success stories), and disseminate important pedestrian safety countermeasure information, pedestrian safety data, and law information. Bringing together stakeholders allows for an open exchange of pedestrian safety success stories, lessons learned, dissemination of pedestrian safety information and materials, and increased awareness of laws. The impact of this approach is magnified tremendously as stakeholders take this information back to their communities, agencies, and citizens and disseminate it further. There is a need in Texas to continue the exchange and dissemination of this information, particularly as it relates to pedestrians and alcohol countermeasures and law awareness. It is important to improve the knowledge and behaviors of pedestrians and motorists so they can make better decisions and change their behaviors.
Project Activities
This grant provides a unified pedestrian safety project that brings together pedestrian safety stakeholders to share information—such as lessons learned and success stories—among coalition members, while also distributing critical pedestrian safety data and law information to statewide partners. Bringing stakeholders together allows for an open exchange of pedestrian safety successes, challenges, and strategies, as well as the dissemination of safety materials and increased awareness of pedestrian-related laws. The impact of this collaborative approach is magnified as participants bring this information back to their respective communities, agencies, and organizations for further dissemination.
The Texas Pedestrian Safety Coalition promotes collaboration among statewide partners and provides assistance to Traffic Safety Specialists who offer technical expertise on pedestrian safety initiatives. It also conducts the Statewide Pedestrian Safety Forum to share current data, strategies, and best practices; hosts topic-focused webinars that address emerging pedestrian safety issues and innovative countermeasures; facilitates the Pedestrian Safety Task Force to advance the implementation of key recommendations; and maintains an online resource library to ensure ongoing access to data, materials, and outreach resources
Project Title: Statewide Pedestrian and Motorist Outreach and Support to Address Pedestrian Safety Behaviors
Project Start and End Dates: October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025
Author List: Ben Ettelman
Sponsor/Funding Source: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)