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U.S. DOT Pedestrian Safety Actions

Michael Griffith, Federal Highway Administration 

July 28, 2020
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Next Steps 

» Obtain input on U.S. DOT actions to improve pedestrian safety 

• Information gained at the previous webinars 

 Polling Questions 

• Input from comments on web site 

 https://highways.dot.gov/pedestrian-safety-summit

» Complete development of U.S. DOT Pedestrian Safety Action 

Plan 
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Webinar Input 

» What will lead to biggest gains in pedestrian safety? 
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Webinar Input » Noteworthy practices • Road diets, Traffic 

calming, Complete 

Streets 

• Infrastructure 

improvements  HAWKS  Raised medians  Overcrossings 

• Education and 

enforcement 
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Noteworthy Practice – One example of a 

resource

» Highlighting Virginia’s Road Diets

» http://vdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?

appid=c730982f5249411693e8ce0a23cdb9a9
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Webinar Input

» Challenges\opportunities to making progress on pedestrian 

safety
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Current and Planned Actions

» These actions will serve as significant input into the U.S. DOT 

Pedestrian Safety Action Plan.

» Organized by key activities that support the safe system 

approach 

• Improved mobility

• Enforcement, laws and regulations 

• Vehicle design and technology 

• Street design and technology 

• Land use planning 

• Speed management 

• Education and capacity building 

• Data and evaluation 
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Current Actions 

» Engineering/Design

• STEP Toolbox 

• Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (EDC4/5) 

• Lighting design and implementation policy 

• Pedestrian and Bicycle Scalable Risk Assessment Methodology 

(ScRAM) 

• Pedestrian and Bike Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT) 

• Community-based bicyclist and pedestrian behavioral safety 

assessment 

• Pedestrian and Bicycle Road Safety Audit Guide 

• Global benchmarking study

• Speed management noteworthy practices 
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Current Actions 

» Data

• State and MPO non-motorized safety targets 

• Estimate pedestrian and bicyclist crash rates

• Pedestrian Count Model 

» Technology 

• Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking 

• Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) Communications 

• Minimum sound requirements for electric and hybrid vehicles 

• Effect of electronic device use on pedestrian safety 

» Campaigns/Marketing 

• STEP campaign & videos

• Pedestrian and Bicyclist Bystander Care Initiative 

• Pedestrian Safety Month – October 2020
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Current Actions 

» Training/Education

• Systemic safety analysis training to include pedestrian module

• STEP Science and Technology and Math Lessons

• New Child Pedestrian Curriculum

» Enforcement

• Idea Book for law enforcement

• Automated speed enforcement
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Future Actions 

» Update Resources

• Countermeasures That Work

• Pedestrian Safety Guide 

• Pedestrian Safety Guide for transit agencies 

» Statewide Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program Assessment

» Vehicles 

• Vehicle to-everything (V2X)

• New Car Assessment Program – new technologies contribute to pedestrian 

safety 

• Crash avoidance countermeasures 

• Adaptive Driving Beam Headlamps (ADB)
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Future Actions 

» Engineering/Design 

• Continuous friction measurement (CFM) 

• Design issues at alternative intersections 

• School crossing warning sign

» Data Improvements 

• CIREN (Crash Injury Research) trauma center-based crash data 

• Pedestrian-intersection Crash Modification Factors 

• Data analytics and visualization dashboard 

» Campaigns/Marketing 

• Newsletters on Pedestrian and Bicycle Forum, multimodal connectivity, human 

environment 

• Our Roads, Our Safety campaign 
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What gaps do you see with the current 

and planned U.S. DOT actions?

» Please respond in the Q&A box.

» Label it as Q1.
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What are some new opportunities and 

partnerships U.S. DOT should consider?

» Please respond in the Q&A box.

» Label it as Q2.
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Next Steps 

U.S. DOT Pedestrian Safety Summit Web Site 

https://highways.dot.gov/pedestrian-safety-summit