A week-long campaign aimed at pedestrian safety is underway in Missouri.
The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety launched the campaign on Monday.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) spokeswoman Kelly Jackson tells Missourinet the campaign is geared toward pedestrians and drivers, educating both about what to watch out for to ensure everyone is safe.
“We want to be sure that citizens are as safe as possible in all modes of transportation,” Jackson says. “And we encourage all drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to make safe choices so that everyone, no matter the mode of their transportation, makes it to their destination safe.”
347 Missouri pedestrians were killed between 2013 and 2016, and another 1,021 suffered serious injuries. Jackson emphasizes that safety is a two-way street.
“We take every fatality seriously and we want to look into where these accidents are happening, we want to take a look at why they’re happening and what we can do to help improve that,” says Jackson.
Jackson says the top five pedestrian contributing factors involved in those 347 fatalities were failure to yield, alcohol impairment, distraction/inattention, drug impairment and physical impairment.
She urges pedestrians to be aware of drivers, even when pedestrians are in designated crosswalks.
Jackson also reminds pedestrians to always wear bright-colored clothing when exercising along a roadway, for visibility reasons. She says you should walk against the flow of traffic, rather than with the traffic.