California WALKS is looking for intern(s) to work on legal policy issues, advocacy, youth  mentoring and pedestrian safety projects.  Apply at www.californiawalks.org.

Join California WALKS, UCB SafeTREC and Santa Cruz County's Traffic Safety Coalition in a Community Pedestrian Safety Engagement Workshop in Spanish, focusing on walking safety and universal design for children, youth and seniors. Log onto www.safetrec.berkeley.edu, click on pedestrian safety for flyer in English or Spanish. Lunch, childcare and simultaneous translation to English provided. RSVP with Sarah Harmon at 831/454/5418 or [email protected].

                      OTS Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Training

                                        April 20-22 in San Diego 

California WALKS and UCB SafeTREC will facilitate community pedestrian safety Toward Zero Deaths engagement training at the California Office of Traffic Safety's April 20-22 statewide seminar. Learn how-tos for pedestrian count and travel prediction, Health Assessments, crash data GIS-mapping, new MUTCD signals/signs, SRTS, pedestrian law enforcement, federal Liveability funding and more. . Limited scholarships are available--contact Jill Cooper, Associate Director, SafeTREC, [email protected], www.safetrec.berkeley.edu. Click on the link below for flyer and to register.  http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103332655238-14/Ped_Bike_OTS_flyer.pdf 

San Francisco Streets Particularly Mean for Pedestrians

More than 800 people are hit by cars in San Francisco each year, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the state--and possibly the country--for pedestrians.

This is a city that in 2009 was named the best walking city in the country by the American Podiatric Medical Association and Prevention magazine because of the many city agencies assisting in walking issues. Yet more than two pedestrians are hit each day on average, accounting for about a quarter of all injury crashes and, according to some reports, nearly half the city's traffic fatalities.

When ranking traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents--including people killed in cars as well as pedestrians--San Francisco fares worse than such far larger cities as New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, according to a report released in August by the New York City Department of Transportation, using 2008 data.

While San Francisco obviously is a dangerous city to walk in, the city's size may skew the numbers. Since the city is releatively small--with fewer than 800,000 people--and has a large number of pedestrians, especially downtown, the number of people hit might appear high when based on per capita rate.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation AGency released a report last October that found that the actual number of fatalities has consistently declined over the years, although the city still has a higher percentage of such deaths than other major cities. Motorists who fail to yield and inattentive drivers are the primary causes of the accidents.

Pedestrian advocates say the 800 pedestrian collisions a year--a number that has held fairly steady in recent years--is far too many, no matter how it's calculated.

Berkeley is the most dangerous city of its size in California for bicyclists and pedestrians, according to the city's police and health departments which received about $400,000 this fall from the Office of Traffic Safety to make the roads safer.

The OTS ranks Berkeley No. 1 out of 55 similar-sized cities for bicyclists and pedestrians injured and killed, according to the Berkeley health department.

The Berkeley police department will use its grant money for speed detection equipment, a third mobile digital sign, printing for educational fliers and officer overtime during targeted enforcement operations.

Police department spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss states that some of the most dangerous intersections for all kinds of accidents--car versus bike, car versus pedestrian and car versus car--are Shattuck and University Avenues, San Pablo and Ashby Avenues, University Avenue and Sixth Street, Ashby and Shattuck Avenues, Ashby and Telegraph Avenues, Ashby Avenue and Seventh Street and Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

At the health department, the funds will pay for education on bike safety in five elementary schools and the city's two middle schools, a bicycle rodeo in May and the giveaway of 800 free helmets to residents, said Marcia Brown-Machen, who is working on the grant at the health department. 

"One of the collaborations we have with the police department is to encourage helmet safety," Brown-Machen said.

According to the police department, drivers who make unsafe turns into bicyclists are responsible for 58 percent of the car versus bike accidents. Drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks are responsible for 56 percent of the car versus pedestrian accidents in Berkeley.

The drivers who hit pedestrians in crosswalks are either inattentive, Sgt. Kusmiss said, under the influence of alcohol or drugs "or are going too fast to stop in time," or all of the above.

"We always suggest pedestrians be very attentive when they cross the street, make eye contact with the driver or make sure the driver somehow sees you," she said. 

To read the entire article go to http://www.contracostatimes.com/fdcp?1296774254484.

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For your own community's pedestrian fatality and crash rankings, go to http://www.ots.ca.gov/Media_and_Research/Rankings/default.asp.

Jim Stone has been appointed to the position of Executive Director. Mr. Stone formerly served as the vice president of public programs at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.

Dave Schumacher, Chairman of WalkSanDiego's Board of Directors says, "Jim's environmental issues, sustainability and public education will be a tremendous asset to the organization."

WalkSanDiego is dedicated to making the communties of San Diego County more walkable. It is the region's only community-based provider of unique planning, advocacy and educational services that positively impact communities throughout San Diego County by enhancing walkability and increasing pedestrian safety.

Accepting the position, Stone says, "There is a strong correlation between lifestyle, walkability and sustainability, so I find the organization's mission appealing and very aligned with my personal and professional goals and interests." 

                   Carbon Savings from Walking Trips

Save 1 lb Carbon with Every Mile You Walk!

1 mile driving  (20 mpg) foregone (walking trip) = 1 lb CO2 saved based on the following formula:

Average car gets  22 mpg

1/22nd gallon =1 mile foregone

per this site (http://timeforchange.org/what-is-a-carbon-footprint-definition)

1 gallon of gas= 8.7kg CO2. 1kg=2.2 lbs.

8.7 x 2.2 is 19.4 lbs

so, in a car that gets 22 miles to the gallon, the vehicle generates .88 lbs CO2 per mile.

The calculations change depending on MPG, so if a car gets less than 22 mpg, it generates more carbon per mile, with 19.4 MPG being the 1 mile=1 lb CO2 point.

Count each mile you walk instead of drive as saving 1 lb of CO2!!

(Formula from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network) Thanks to WalkBoston for this info.