It is often the case that decision makers, in any setting, are unaware of what is actually happening at the ground level. In the case of transportation planning, it may be that cars travel faster than the posted limit, or that pedestrians cross streets where there are no facilities to safely do so.

 

Engineers and planners try to account for a host of factors when designing and maintaining our roadways, but it is difficult to predict how land use or other changes that occur over time will affect how roads are used by vehicles and pedestrians. Such changes often lead to very dangerous situations, when pedestrians find it necessary to walk in areas where proper facilities are insufficient or absent altogether.

 

In recognition of this, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has implemented a number of measures to improve pedestrian safety. The latest tool developed by NJDOT is the Pedestrian Safety Impact Team, a part of the Pedestrian Safety Corridor Program. 

 

IDENTIFYING AND FIXING SAFETY ISSUES
In 2006, Governor Jon Corzine launched a five-year Statewide Pedestrian Safety Initiative. One of the strategies was the Pedestrian Safe Corridor Program, formed as a partnership between NJDOT, the Department of Law and Public Safety

and the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). The program was designed to identify and remediate state highway corridors based on pedestrian fatality and injury data.

 

An integral part of the program is the Pedestrian Safety Impact Team. Once a corridor is identified as a problem area, a Pedestrian Safety Impact Team consisting of 30 to 40 stakeholders is assembled; teams typically include public officials, traffic engineers, planners, business owners, local residents and representatives from civic groups. 

 

The team receives classroom training on pedestrian-related planning, design, education, and enforcement issues and then completes fieldwork, studying the corridor and recommending improvements. These recommendations generally involve facility improvements, education, and enforcement strategies.

 

This program marks a great stride forward because it signals an effort by New Jersey to be aggressive in an area where other states are typically hesitant. States often fear legal exposure from such programs, in which groups point out safety issues; being made aware of inadequate facilities, officials conclude, puts them on notice to fix them. In this case, New Jersey is being proactive in its approach, realizing that these corridors present a great danger to pedestrians and