The statewide pedestrian safety awareness campaign will take place June 14-27.
From June 14 to June 20, law enforcement agencies will be issuing warnings and distributing educational materials to drivers and pedestrians. That will be followed by a week of enforcement with ticketing, from June 21 to June 27.
According to the NYS Department of Transportation, there were 3,672 pedestrian crashes in New York State in 2015 — 573 in Suffolk County.
Sixty-two percent of the crashes occur at intersections. Contributing factors include pedestrian error/confusion, pedestrian/driver view obstructed/limited, pedestrian/driver failure to yield the right of way, and backing up unsafely.
The top five pedestrian actions involving fatal and injury crashes are: 1. Crossing-no signal or crosswalk (49 percent); 2. Other actions in roadway (16 percent); 3. Traveling along the highway with traffic (12 percent) 4. Crossing-marked crosswalk (11 percent) and 5. Unknown (11 percent).
The key to pedestrian safety for both drivers and pedestrians is:
For drivers: SEE! Expect pedestrians. Pay attention! Don’t text while driving! Obey the speed limit.
For Pedestrians: Use crosswalks. Obey signals. Look left, look right, look left again. Pay Attention! Don’t text while crossing.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
