When we hear about severe crashes or injuries on our roadways, the conversation often revolves around who is to blame. Was the driver speeding, or was the pedestrian jaywalking?
With 90 people killed and more seriously injured last year on Pinellas County roadways, assigning blame to individuals isn’t solving our transportation crisis. Forward Pinellas started Safe Streets Pinellas, a Vision Zero safety effort, to address this. Vision Zero, a strategy employed by communities across the country and the world, radically redefines the idea of what transportation safety means: that not one person should be killed or seriously injuring using our roadways. In a Vision Zero effort like Safe Streets Pinellas, diverse stakeholders must come together to think about and work toward creating a transportation system that is safe for everyone. The success of Safe Streets Pinellas depends on community involvement and collaboration with partner agencies.
On March 31 at 1 pm, we will be hosting a Safe Streets Pinellas Summit. The summit will include safety experts, interactive activities, and your ideas for how we can help make Pinellas County a safer place.
Forward Pinellas is seeking ambassadors to work with us to help spread the word about Safe Streets Pinellas and why Vision Zero is needed in our community. Ambassadors will be required to attend a training (in person or via webinar) and at least one outreach event. Ambassadors will focus on connecting our work to the communities in which they are a part. If you are interested in volunteering to be an ambassador, email Sarah Caper at scaper@forwardpinellas.org with your name, contact information and a brief statement describing why you would like to be an ambassador.
Over the course of the next year, Forward Pinellas will work with our partners and the community to develop an action plan complete with tools and strategies to work towards eliminating deaths on our roadways. We will be looking closely at high injury corridors, conducting demonstration projects and exploring how to implement Safe Streets Pinellas in Pinellas County. I hope you will join us over the next year and beyond in getting to zero.
