Leggett Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary of His Pedestrian Safety Initiative; Efforts are Reducing Collisions and Saving Lives

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett celebrated the five-year anniversary of his December 2007 Pedestrian Safety Initiative, which for the first time provided a blueprint to improve pedestrian safety based on measurable strategies. 

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett celebrated the five-year anniversary of his December 2007 Pedestrian Safety Initiative, which for the first time provided a blueprint for action to improve pedestrian safety based on measurable strategies. 

 The Initiative outlined an approach to pedestrian and traffic safety that focused on three essential components: education, engineering and enforcement.  The Initiative significantly enhanced the County’s investment in educating motorists and pedestrians, keeping enforcement efforts visible and intensive and aggressively applying the most innovative and pedestrian-friendly road engineering designs. 

Some of the achievements of the Initiative include:

• Reducing pedestrian fatalities from a high of 19 fatalities in 2008 to 11 last year and six so far in 2012..
• Reducing pedestrian collisions 12 percent since 2009.
• Reducing the most severe collisions that incapacitate or kill pedestrians 21 percent since 2009.
• Reducing collisions 35 percent in areas where traffic calming measures have been installed. 
• Reducing collisions by 45 percent in High Incidence Areas (HIAs), locations with the highest concentrations of collisions.
• Reducing collisions by 72 percent within a quarter mile of schools targeted for engineering, education and enforcement activities under the Safe Routes to Schools program.

 For more information, see the press release or view the Initiative on the County’s website.