CDOT launches pedestrian safety campaign

[flickr]photo:6280431221[/flickr]

Photo of attention-grabbing mannequins on Wacker Drive represent the 32 people in 2010 who, while walking, were killed by drivers and automobiles in Chicago. Photo by Kevin Zolkiewicz.

Grid Chicago reader Kevin Zolkiewicz has written about the City of Chicago’s campaign to reduce pedestrian fatalities to zero by 2020.

Among the most visible of the initiatives are 32 mannequins that have been installed along Wacker Drive between Wells Street and Michigan Avenue. Each mannequin represents a pedestrian killed in Chicago last year. Klein hopes that the mannequins, combined with other campaign ads that will be plastered on buses, street furniture, and trash bins throughout the city, will encourage drivers to stay alert for pedestrians.

CDOT’s pedestrian safety campaign will involve 15 different initiatives — ranging from awareness campaigns to enforcement — that the agency hopes will change driver behavior and make the city a safer place for pedestrians. Read the full article.

Grid Chicago’s John Greenfield also attended the press conference this morning at 10 AM at Wacker and Wabash and will be writing about it for tomorrow’s feature.

By my count, using data from the Illinois Department of Transportation, there were 3,064 reported crashes in which at least one person labeled a “pedestrian” was involved. There were several crashes where more than one pedestrian was involved, but I selected unique case numbers from the dataset. I was able to agree that there were 32 pedestrian fatalities in 2010. No crash had more than one pedestrian fatality.

There were no pedestrian fatalities in crashes where the “cause code” was “distracted by phone or electronic communication device” or “distracted by other electronic device (including DVD and GPS)”. Only 8 crashes had one of those cause codes.

According to the Chicago Department of Transportation on Twitter, the mannequins will be visiting other neighborhoods

3 thoughts on “CDOT launches pedestrian safety campaign”

  1. Are all of the mannequins tall, gray-skinned and male-bodied? They’re kind of creepy and non-representative. Also, placing them in pedestrian areas doesn’t make them visible to people driving cars. Maybe it’s crass, but I would put these in the middle of crosswalks in place of bollards.

    1. Actually, they’re milk-white and there are both male and female mannequins. A reporter complained about the ethnic balance issue and Commissioner Klein said something like, “I don’t know many white people who are that color.” I also think they’re fairly visible to westbound cars on Wacker.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *