Best Foot Forward hope to slow traffic, save pedestrians

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Best Foot Forward hopes to slow traffic, save pedestrians
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By Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel
7:08 p.m. EST, May 29, 2012
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Annemarie Provisero looked both ways and saw no cars
before she stepped off the curb and into the crosswalk on
Dean Road in east Orange County.
Suddenly, she was on the hood of a black Honda CRV.
As the SUV screeched to a halt, she fell onto the
pavement, her legs mangled and her head gushing blood.
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"I remember thinking, 'Everything is going to change,'" said Provisero, 43, a computer-support technician
from Orlando who was struck Nov. 1.
A group that includes the Winter Park Health Foundation and MetroPlan Orlando hopes to make Central
Florida's streets safer for Provisero and other pedestrians with a plan called Best Foot Forward.
They will announce the initiative today at 1 p.m. at the Orlando Health Heart Institute, 1222 S. Orange Ave.
The goal is to reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries by 10 percent annually for the next five years.
The need is clear, advocates say, because the metro area is consistently ranked the most dangerous
community in the U.S. for pedestrians, according to Transportation for America, an organization that
promotes alternative transit.
On average, two pedestrians in the three-county area are injured every day after being hit by a car or truck.
One typically dies each week.
Based on programs that have worked in Gainesville and St. Petersburg, Best Foot Forward, which was a
year in the making, calls for a "triple E" approach:
Engineering, as in more crosswalks, better lighting and sidewalks; Education, as in letting motorists know
that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks, especially unmarked ones; Enforcement, as in issuing
$164 tickets to cars that fail to yield to people in crosswalks.
All together, what the program really calls for is civility, said Linda Chapin, a former Orange County mayor
and co-chair of Bike/Walk Central Florida, one of the Best Foot Forward sponsors.
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Drivers need to learn to share the road and slow down, she said, while pedestrians have to be more careful
and not dart out into traffic, the most common cause of fatalities, according to research by MetroPlan,
which sets transportation policy in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.
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"We have to change hearts and minds," Chapin said.
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Probably the most controversial part of the program will be the issuing of tickets to drivers, many of whom
do not know that state law gives pedestrians the right of way in crosswalks, absent a traffic signal.
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Officers and deputies in Orange County, Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Eatonville, Ocoee, Windermere
and Winter Garden have pledged to enforce the pedestrian law. At first, drivers will be issued a warning,
but likely by August, tickets will be handed out instead.
Orlando also is using a $4 million federal grant to build 18 miles of sidewalks in the city and upgrading
pedestrian signals to feature countdowns until the light turns.
During one three-hour stretch last month, Orlando police went to several crosswalks in the Kirkman Road
area and ended up handing out 434 warnings because motorists did not yield to pedestrians.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said people who are warned are more likely to tell others about what is going
on rather than those who become upset after receiving a ticket.
But Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes said troopers in Central Florida will issue tickets without
warning if they see an infraction.
Pedestrians in crosswalk usually are pretty safe, she said, as long as they pay attention. The biggest
problem is caused by drivers intent on turning right on red, she said. They rarely check to their right for
people before going through an intersection.
Montes said walkers should always keep an eye on the vehicles around them.
"You really have to make sure [before crossing a street]," she said. "You are so vulnerable as a
pedestrian."
That's the lesson Provisero learned last November. The driver apparently did not see Provisero as she
turned left onto Dean Road from Buck Road. She was charged with careless driving.
Provisero spent 12 days in the hospital, followed by a month of rehabilitation in a nursing home. With a
fractured right leg and a dislocated left knee and torn ligaments, she was in a wheelchair for three months.
Even now, she has trouble walking, even though she endures up to two hours of therapy three times a
week. "It's frustrating because I am a go-go person," she said.
Provisero would like to help out with Best Foot Forward and hopes to encourage motorists to slow down
and look for pedestrians.
"There's such a hurried pace [here]," she said. "In other places, they stop, if they see you at the curb. Here
they speed up, if they look at you at all."
[email protected] or 407-420-5444.
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Comments (10)
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H2OJunkie at 5:08 AM May 30, 2012
There is duality in this I don't like. Yes, we do have a problem with drivers who block cross walks, run red lights on right
turns etc. But we also have a HUGE problem with pedestrians who REFUSE to obey the rules as well. I drive for a living
and the most common thing I see from pedestrians is them crossing in the street with a crosswalk a short distance away,
crossing streets on green lights and all manner of other stupidity. My opinion is the law is the law. They should ticket
stupid walkers as well as stupid drivers. These folks make it sound like it is always the driver's fault, but that isn't
necessarily the case as my experience indicates from driving all day. What really kills me is seeing mothers and fathers
jay walking with their young counterparts in tow, talk about teaching them bad habits....
blutown at 10:05 PM May 29, 2012
Please don't let the 50 million tourist that visit central Florida see this article. It would be a marketing nightmare if word got
out that we are the most dangerous place in the United States to walk.
drivebyposterr at 7:12 PM May 29, 2012
I guess if you say that you didn't see the car, that means the car wasn't actually there until it magically materialized and
struck you. That's easier than admitting that you weren't paying attention.
But a car that hits you is a car that you could have seen. Some things aren't the fault of traffic, or traffic design, or
sidewalk design.
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