Pedestrian Safety Summit held to discuss road safety issues

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported from 2014 to 2016, 32 percent of traffic fatalities in Macon-Bibb County involved pedestrians.

The pedestrian safety review board is trying to reduce that rate.

“What’s really dangerous is when you have pedestrians without facilities designed for them trying to deal with high speed traffic,” says Pedestrian Safety Review Board Chairman Tom Ellington

Speed has been identified as one of the common factor of pedestrian factors. The board plans on finding a way to stop drivers from speeding.

Bob Dallas, Consultant for Vision Zero says, “Put the speed signs that tell you exactly how fast you are going. That way, the motorist understands that speed is an issue. If you slow down a little bit, it will make the roads a lot safer and probably get there at the same time.”

This is just one of the problems discussed at the 2nd Annual Pedestrian Safety Summit on Tuesday. Leaders from public works, planning and zoning and other groups in macon-bibb contributed to a plan to make improvements in infrastructure. they proposed more lighting and adding crosswalks.

Dallas explains, “The existing lighting is being converted to LED which does a lot better job at identifying pedestrians from far away. What we know is that at night time when we drive, we may not be able to see as far obviously and if you have better lighting, then that pedestrian who may be in the way is identified sooner and then we can slow down and avoid that hit.”

The goal is to create a safer place where people can walk, engage each other and live. During the first summit, the pedestrian safety review board started “Cross the Walk” campaign which educates people on the importance of using crosswalks.