On Wednesday, Mayor Mike McGinn announced a new “Neighbors for Road Safety” program, which aims to partner with neighbors in increasing awareness of road safety issues on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. Neighbors will learn about specific and local road safety issues and increase their knowledge of the rules of the road. The City will then provide neighbors with the tools they need to address road safety issues
“We hear from neighbors all the time that they want their streets to be safer,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “By working with neighbors throughout Seattle and equipping them with expert knowledge of road safety issues, rules of the road, and projects in their neighborhood, we hope to increase road safety throughout the city.”
Safety is our top priority at SDOT and we are committed to achieving the goal set forth in our Road Safety Action Plan – zero fatalities and serious injuries on our streets by 2030. This plan outlines our path to achieving this goal through a multifaceted approach that includes targeted enforcement of our traffic laws, safer roadway design, and educational outreach through our Be Super Safe Seattle campaign.
But we recognize that no one single organization or agency can achieve this goal alone. Successfully eliminating serious injuries and fatalities from our streets requires partnerships between government, community groups, non-profits, businesses and individuals. Neighbors for Road Safety combines road safety educational elements with community knowledge in an effort to address specific safety issues on a neighborhood level.
Neighbors for Road Safety is founded in data. Our collision data tells a story and it’s a story that everyone should hear. Nearly 12,000 crashes occur in Seattle annually (that’s 33 every day!) and at least 90 percent of these collisions are preventable.
This program gives us an opportunity to engage Seattle on a deeper level about the root causes of crashes on our streets and strengthen partnerships with our neighborhoods. And this program has many resources to offer to our city’s unique enclaves. Working directly with SDOT staff, participants can expect to:
- Learn about collision issues citywide
- Learn about collision hotspots in your neighborhood and the factors that contribute to crashes
- Learn about the rules of the road including how to use new roadway features
- Find out how to improve safety in your neighborhood through engineering, enforcement, and education efforts
- Receive monthly communications about road safety including tips on how to be super safe on our streets
SDOT maintains an amazing amount of traffic data and information but data is just part of the story and the people living in our neighborhoods know the rest of the script. They know where there are opportunities to improve safety. Working together we will combine our mutual knowledge to identify the road safety issues affecting your community and develop strategies to mitigate those issues. Solutions will be wide ranging and include neighborhood specific educational outreach, targeted enforcement patrols, and environmental improvements.
We’re looking for neighbors who will commit to working with the Seattle Department of Transportation and other city departments to help reduce traffic collisions and improve road safety for all. We invite you to join our Neighbors for Road Safety effort to help make Seattle a safe and comfortable place to travel for all people, no matter how you choose to go – by car, transit, bike, or as a pedestrian. Sign up on our website: www.seattle.gov/besupersafe/nsfr