The 2022 Texas Pedestrian Safety Forum was held on Thursday, August 18, 2022 at the Norris Center in Austin, Texas. The forum’s agenda, session descriptions, and presentations can be found below. Presentations will be added as we acquire permission to post them. Thank you to everyone who joined us in person this year!
| Getting to Zero: Effectively Implementing Vision Zero at the Local Level | Jay Crossley, Executive Director, Farm&City |
| Four cities within the state of Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Laredo), as well as the Texas Department of Transportation, have adopted zero-death initiatives to guide transportation safety into the future. This session will provide an overview of how zero-death initiatives intend to shift the culture around transportation safety, and presenters will discuss how they impact pedestrian safety. | |
| Considering Pedestrian Safety in Our Roadway Design | Ed Burgos-Gomez, Safety Engineer, Federal Highway Administration
Kay Fitzpatrick, Senior Research Engineer, Texas A&M Transportation Institute |
| There are various approaches to street design as well as countermeasures that improve pedestrian safety—but what are the right approaches for your community? Presenters will discuss context-sensitive solutions to pedestrian safety design and countermeasures from a range of community sizes and types. | |
| Connecting Public Health and Pedestrian Safety | Alice Grossman, Associate Research Scientist, Center for Advancing Research in Transportation, Emissions, Energy, and Health
Payton Bowyer, Trauma Injury Prevention Coordinator, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center |
| The relationship between pedestrian safety and public health is important to both transportation and public health professionals. When transportation safety professionals think about the relationship between pedestrian safety and public health, the negative impacts of traffic violence and the positive impacts of physical activity are often cited. While these topics are extremely important, the impact of transportation-related air pollution on pedestrians is an area of growing concern for public health experts. This session will share the latest research on the risks that vulnerable road users face from air pollution emitted from automobiles, as well as provide information on how trauma admissions data can drive public health outreach, education, and awareness. | |
| Slow the Cars: Managing Speed to Save Lives | Joel Meyer, Transportation Planner, City of Austin |
| Vehicle speed greatly influences the probability of injury or death to pedestrians. Statistics show that a person can be 70% more likely to be killed if struck by a vehicle traveling at 30 mph versus 25 mph. This session will explore how transportation planners and designers should begin rethinking speed management strategies to prioritize pedestrian safety. Presenters will share best practices for implementing approaches that slow cars down and save pedestrian lives. | |
| Tools to Determine Pedestrian Safety Trends | Larry Krantz, Police Traffic Services Program Manager, Texas Department of Transportation
Eva Shipp, Senior Research Scientist, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
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| Join this session to learn about TxSTORM (Texas State Trend Over-Representation Model), an online, multi-agency product of the Texas Traffic Records Coordinating Committee. TxSTORM is an online tool designed to facilitate the efficient deployment of resources for crash and injury prevention by identifying crash trends. Participants will gain an understanding of how to use the TxSTORM online tool and its strengths and limitations. For this hands-on session, participants are encouraged to bring laptops and practice using TxSTORM to screen counties, TxDOT districts, and other jurisdictions for top traffic safety issues of greatest interest to them or their agency. | |
| Incorporating Equity in Transportation Planning | Stefanie Brodie, Research Principal Lead, Toole Design
Zabe Bent, Director of Design, National Association of City Transportation Officials
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| Transportation equity is a complex topic and has significant impacts on pedestrian safety. Presenters at this session will discuss how transportation equity impacts pedestrians and their ability to safely navigate the transportation system. | |
KEYNOTE SPEAKER PANEL
Road to Zero: How Vision Zero and the Safe Systems Approach Is Saving Texan’s Lives
Leah Shahum, Founder and Director, Vision Zero Network
Al Alonzi, Division Administrator, Texas, Federal Highway Administration (no presentation)
Becky Walker, Regional Program Manager, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Vision Zero is an internationally recognized approach to eliminating all traffic fatalities and serious injuries. This strategy maintains that traffic deaths are preventable and recognizes that human behavior is not perfect. Implementing a Safe Systems approach is how we will achieve Vision Zero’s goal. This comprehensive approach upholds a holistic view of the road system and is being widely adopted and implemented to improve pedestrian safety. The keynote presentation will provide an overview of Vision Zero, USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy initiatives, and concrete examples of how to achieve Vision Zero through the Safe Systems approach.
| Developing Effective Safety Education and Outreach Campaigns | Gina Torry, Director, Citizens for Road Safety
Gretchen Stoeltje, Associate Research Scientist, Texas A&M Transportation Institute |
| This session will focus on how the pedestrian safety community communicates about key issues related to transportation safety. Presenters will discuss communication gaps that exist in pedestrian safety and lead a structured discussion about how the pedestrian safety community can create a common understanding among transportation professionals and advocates. | |
| Understanding Blind and Visually Impaired Pedestrian Safety | Chris Tabb, Statewide Orientation & Mobility Specialist, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired |
| Pedestrians who are blind and low vision have unique needs when it comes to crossing streets and relating to pedestrian information in general. This session will explore common challenges faced by blind and low-vision pedestrians (e.g., ramps, tactile indicators, signage, signals, construction zones, etc.), as well as strategies and resources for addressing these unique needs. **Note: These slides had two videos removed to reduce the file size. Please contact Michelle Canton at [email protected] for a Filex of the full presentation. | |
| Considering Pedestrians During Construction | John Habermann, Research Engineer, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Phil Lasley, Associate Research Scientist, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (no presentation, web tool demo) |
| This session will review how the Texas Department of Transportation Waco District addressed pedestrian safety during a years-long construction project along I-35 in Waco near Baylor University. Also, an overview of available tools and data that help give insight into transportation planning for pedestrians will be provided. | |