News

News Archive : 2010 : April

CDC Announces New Transportation and Health Policy

April 28, 2010

Expanding the availability of, safety for, and access to a variety of transportation options and integrating health-enhancing choices into transportation policy has the potential to save lives by preventing chronic diseases, reducing and preventing motor-vehicle-related injury and deaths, improving environmental health, while stimulating economic development, and ensuring access for all people.   Read more >

Congress Reauthorizes Funding for Safe Routes to School

April 20, 2010

Congress has passed the long-term transportation extension through December 2010, meaning that the federal Safe Routes to School program will be funded at the FY2009 level of $183 million throughout the remainder of FY2010 and the first quarter of FY2011.  Read more >

Speed Lowered in Columbia, MO

April 15, 2010

In Europe, some cities are adopting “20 mph Zones” to reduce pedestrian injuries. They’re also finding lowering speeds increases economic activity. Until recently, no known U.S. jurisdiction has implemented 20 mph zones. However, an America Walks member group, the PedNet Coalition in Columbia, Missouri, showed a low-cost way to achieve lower residential street speeds.  The group had sought to convince its city council to lower speed limits on local streets.  For decades, city traffic engineers had refused such requests, claiming the effort was futile. 

Seeking to show a 20 mph zone could be achieved, the PedNet group teamed with researchers from the University of Missouri and volunteers to conduct an education campaign in two selected neighborhoods, and then installed special signs to limit speeding on residential streets.  They gave presentations at schools and other gatherings, and volunteers went door to door explaining the project.  They left an educational door-hanger where they found no one at home.  Before and after speed studies showed the approach worked, and the city has subsequently begun work on an ordinance to lower residential street speed limits to 25 mph.  Not quite 20mph, but getting closer!

Help Curb Speeding!

April 13, 2010

In 2006, America Walks adopted a position statement supporting speed reductions on our nation’s roads.  If a pedestrian and a driver suddenly find themselves on a collision course, the chances of one or both taking evasive action is high at 20 mph.  Not so at 30 mph or higher.  For example, a study in Orange County, California, found that an increase in the average speed from 20 to 30 mph in high-risk locations was associated with 7.6 times the risk of child pedestrian injuries.  Read more >

Free Webinar on new traffic control guidelines for pedestrians and bicyclists

April 9, 2010

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) announces the next free webinar in its Livable Communities Webinar Series: Impact of the New MUTCD on Pedestrians and Bicyclists. This webinar will be held on Thursday, April 15, 2010, from 2:00pm-3:30pm E.T.  Presenters include Bruce Friedman, P.E., PTOE, Transportation Specialist, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, and Scott Wainwright, P.E., PTOE, Highway Engineer, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.  Read more >

Funding available for pedestrian workshops with a focus on older adults

April 7, 2010

Funding is now available to organizations interested in teaching pedestrian safety workshops focused on older adults in their communities. Read more >

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Proposes Rule to Ban Texting for Truck and Bus Drivers

April 5, 2010

U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a federal rule that proposes to specifically prohibit texting by interstate commercial truck and bus drivers. The proposed rule would make permanent an interim ban announced in January 2010 that applied existing safety rules to the specific issue of texting.   Read more >