Annapolis, MD (10-27-16) -- Annapolis Mayor Michael Pantelides announced that it’s time to Look up and Look Out, as part of a Pedestrian Safety Campaign targeted at both the motorist and the pedestrian.
Today’s event ought together Mayor Pantelides, members of City Council, Police Chief Michael Pristoop, members of the Annapolis Fire Department, and officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation in an effort to make both the driver and pedestrian “Look Up, Look Out” for each other.
“It is important that both the motorist and the pedestrian take equal responsibility for safety on Annapolis streets,” Mayor Pantelides said. “This campaign is about saving lives and increasing awareness, creating a safer city for all who visit, live and work here.”
This new campaign utilizes media, enforcement, and education to increase awareness about pedestrian safety throughout the region. The new campaign is part of a $500,000 statewide campaign to include transit advertising, outdoor advertising, social media, and radio advertising. “Pedestrians are our most vulnerable road users,” said Motor Vehicle Administrator and Governor Larry Hogan’s Highway Safety Representative Christine E. Nizer. “The safety and security of Marylanders is the top priority for the Hogan Administration, and this campaign will help save lives and move us closer to our goal of zero deaths on our roadways. As daylight continues to decrease, we need drivers and pedestrians to look up and look out for one another.”
Statewide, more than 100 pedestrians are killed as a result of a crash, and nearly 2,500 more are injured annually. During the years of 2013 through 2015, Annapolis reported 114 pedestrian related crashes, which includes pedestrians, bicyclists, and mopeds with 28 crashes occurring in a marked crosswalk. In 40 of the 114 crashes the pedestrian, cyclist, or moped was at fault, not the motorist.
“Over the next six years, the Hogan Administration will invest more than $184.5 million to upgrade infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists; but engineering is only one part of the safety equation,” said Deputy State Highway Administrator Gregory I. Slater. “The Look Up, Look Out campaign focuses attention on the rules of the road – urging drivers and pedestrians alike to literally put eyes on the road and watch out for each other, even more critical this time of year with the time change looming.”
The Look Up, Look Out campaign will play a key role in Maryland’s goal of zero deaths on state roadways. For more information on Maryland’s Toward Zero Deaths campaign, please visit www.towardzerodeathsmd.com.
