good morning everybody. welcome to "viewpoint," i'm jim handly. our focus this morning is safety on our streets for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, too. a huge safety and awareness campaign launched this week. to talk more about street smart, captain doug hagonv and walter pet that from the orange county board and george been nan pedestrian coordinator at the district department of transportation. >> such an important topic to talk about. george why did you pick this week to launch? >> we hit this message hard in public in the fall and in the spring. in the fall it's an excellent time because that's when the

days get shorter. we do it right about the time daylight savings time starts because there is a measurable increase in the number of people hit by cars because of the extra darkness at the p.m. rush hour. in the spring, this is a time when weather is et going better. it's a time when more people are out, more people active more people walking the street walking and biking. >> everybody is a little bit out of practice drivers looking for bicycle i haves, bicyclists getting back on the birk after a few months off. talk if you would, walter about this campaign and who it's trying to reach. >> sure i think we want to go long and wide throughout the metro region we're an attractive place to come to shop and live. we have a very diverse region where we have people from walks of life and dak ground and speaking different languages.

for us it's imperative that we increase our education, our -- that we try to prevent fatalities or any kind of incidents. we've had too many in our metro washington region about 72 pedestrians last year and three bicyclist fatalities. my number is zero. we need to work intensively, but not only in english, but spanish and any other language we can because this region is very diverse. it's a work in progress and it's something our residents can understand. some of this stuff is simply logical. some things you have to anticipate. we do have more people especially in certain areas that are more crowded and where the chances of fatality or an incident can take place, it's upon us in policy setting positions to make sure we get our message across. you have to be safe. you have to take precautions and we cannot allow other incidents

to happen. >> captain, our crews have been out with you all over montgomery county. you're very visible out there with your campaigns throughout the year truly. talk about the enforcement aspect. we'll be talking about three es. enforcement is a big e. >> it's something where we've been very aggressive because we realize our education campaigns are not as successful unless enforcement is coupled with them. last year in our campaign we issued about 3800 citations to pedestrian pedestrians, bicyclist as and drivers who didn't obey the laws and another 500 warnings. we have zero tolerance enforcement. the purpose of this enforcement is to get the message across. pedestrian safety is everybody's responsibility. if we work with our education campaigns by doing the enforcement, we seem to get the message across. >> talk a little bit about when you issue a citation. what's the reaction? i'm sure it's different for

everybody whether on a bike or a pedestrian are they just not aware they're breaking a law or haven't been aware. >> jim, i think it's pretty universal that people don't like getting citations from police officers. however, some people challenge why would would give a pedestrian a violation. we recognize it's really important to send the massage across. the pedestrians and drivers learn in golden ed one of the golden rules, stop for pedestrians in sidewalks. most of the times they know they're in violation, they don't like the ticket they think a warning would work. we found that warnings weren't working. that's why we're giving the ticket. the ticket is not a high dollar amount but it's something they'll remember for the rest of their life. i'd like to see the message they remember is they got a ticket rather than they were hit by a car. >> george, talk a little bit about how big an issue this is

for cyclists and pedestrians when we talk about injuries and fatalities. >> as walter said, 75 fatalities three of those bicyclists i believe. that's close to 30% of the total traffic fatalities. that's much bigger than nationally whether it's 11% or 12%. this is an urban zized area. that's bound to happen because you have a lot of people walking. there are more people out there walking and biking. nonetheless, that tells you the magnitude of the problem, that we have nearly 30% of the people killed in traffic crashes in this region are pedestrians and a few cyclists. that is something that should get our attention. >> and should raise the number that we commit to about 30%, too, in terms of dollars and manpower as well. >> we need to be dedicating the kind of resources for engineering, education and en

enforcement. >> it should be nationwide. in our different areas we have areas where we must do targeting. in arlington we have an intersection referred to as the intersection of doom and gloom at the corner of the highway and lynn street. multiple close calls, comes out of the i-66 exit. >> our adam tuss went out and did a big story. >> each one of us can relate to an intersection like this in each one of oufr jurisdictions. that's why it's important in addition to those intersections we also let people know. in a way it's good somebody gets publicity for challenging a jay walking ticket. it gives us an opportunity to say, okay this is what was going on more specific

publicity more human story, relate to someone specifically. there's debate about that list serves and different ways because it raise it is awareness. you have to be careful, look left right, left one of the basic things. we all have a place that we know we need to improve. >> we'll get to a lot more tips when we come back. if you'd like to learn more about the street smart campaign. you can easily go to the pub site. stay with us on "viewpoint."

welcome back. our focus again this sun morning the street smart campaign. captain, talk about how you're out there meeting people fis to face whether it's pedestrians or bicyclists.

you signs and tlirs as well. >> george has a couple he can show you as well. we work on an aggressive education campaign. we put these signs on bus stops and behind buses and in social media. we try to hit all the gamuts. what these are, just demonstrations of making awaifrns that we are going to be conducting enforcement. this one is a little older and it shows the team of police officers out there for enforcement. when we go out, we conduct what's called zero tolerance enforcement. if drivers are not driving to peds or peds are not crossing properly everybody gets a citation. we want to make sure with this campaign that they knew we were doing enforcement it changed from the past where we were just giving out warnings. it's really important that with our awareness campaigns, and we do it in both english and span-it's not just about about

enforcement. it's reminding people what they learned in drivers ed and taking the facts an circumstances and getting their attention. but when they choose not to xlin comply with the law, we have to do what we have to do. >> drivers, we're a little out of practice in terms of seeing bicyclists out there and pedestrians, too. what do we need to keep in mind when we're behind the wheel? >> with drivers, the fundment thing to remember is you're driving a two, three, 4,000 pound vehicle. that's going to cause the harm. if the pedestrian is doing the right thing or wrong thing, if there's something you should be doing that would pre vent the crash from happening, you should do it. the first thing for drivers to do is slow down and drive the speed limit. one of the startling facts in this business if you hit a pedestrian at 40 miles per hour they have a 90% chance of dying. if you hit them at 25 miles per hour they have about a 70 brs

to 80% chance of surviving. it's a fundamental thing to get people to slow down. in the district of columbia drivers, when they come to an intersection and want to turn left or right and they have a round green signal, pedestrians who are legally in the crosswalk have the right-of-way. drivers who turn on a green signal when pedestrians are legally in the crosswalk, there are many issues that all road users need to keep track of. in our data that's what we seize one of the biggest problems. metropolitan police department like montgomery county will be out taking a look at driver behavior as well as pedestrian behavior. >> you mentioned earlier walter right d left right. what are some things that people on bikes and pedestrians need to be aware of. wearing bright clothing helps when it's dark. >> absolutely. we want people to use their bicycle bicycles in some people like in arlington people are able to

live without buying a car because we have metro, bicycle trails that people can take. we have evidence that we have,000 and and thousands of people that commute to work both in the morning and the early evening. now we have data to show the trails and not just nice places to walk your dog, your can do that too. but also commuteer routes. just about all the jurisdictions have expanded bike lanes so they're clearly marked for the most part. there are ir rose on the street showing that bicycles have the right to the road as well. there are some things we need to do and one is, like for instance if you're at night, you should have reflective lighting especially from the back. a lot of times you don't realize the blinking light that is dimming, someone with problems seeing may not be able to see

you. you need bright clothes. sometimes you think everybody is seeing you but that's not the case. the other thing, too, sometimes bicyclists can also help by using the bike lane. if there's a bike lane next to the lane for cars use the bike lane. that's what the lane is for. people like to have the right to the road and that's true. but if we try to get along a little more -- in the washington metro region we're impatient, we think our time is more valuable. we need to be patient. >> captain, you mentioned distracted driving we all know about, but distracted walkers out there. we see a lot more of this. >> absolutely. one of the things we learn in drivers education is you have to make eye contact. when you're listening to your

walkman or talking on your cell phone, you're not going to do that. we've seen an increase in pedestrians getting involved in collisions because they're distracted on their cell phones and walking or they have headsets on. when you're crossing that street that's a danger zone you have to look left right, left again and make sure you make that eye contact. drivers, distracted driving is killing people and any -- no phone call is more important than a tragedy that will occur if you strike a pedestrian. we need people to pay more attention, expect the unexpected look out for each other and it will work. it really will. we've got to take another quick break. a lot more to get to on the other side on "viewpoint." so stay with us.

welcome back to "viewpoint." again, we're talking about the

street smart campaign that launch $last week in college park. this is a regionwide initiative whether behind the wheel of a car, a bike or walk across the street. captain, i wanted to talk about a case last week a 67-year-old was killed walking across the street to get her mail. maybe we need mailboxes on both busy sides of the street. >> i think it's something we have to look into. we or conducting the investigation. that's one of the things we are looking at to make recommendations. you have the issue of -- is it the safety of the driver of the mail delivery or is it the pedestrian. if every pedestrian has to cross the street to get their mail you have to look at it. we have to look ought all perspectives and make recommendations.

>> we mentioned education and enforcement, two of the es. the third e is a big one. a lot more money is dedicated to engineering. in all your jurisdictions, in d.c. and around our region what are you seeing george? >> you're seeing a lot of roads that have been transformed. we spend a lot of time money and effort to improve the walkability of certain neighborhoods. drivers may know pennsylvania avenue in the southeast quadrant had a median full, a raised median put down the middle. it got rid of a full traffic lane. that's shown to reduce pedestrian fatalities by 90%. people have a place to take crossing in the middle. sherman avenue there was a four-lane road that had fairly high rate of speed, posted at 25 miles per hour it was commonly 40 miles per hour. people tell me the housing values have jumped on that

street the ability of a pedestrian is cross it is much easier. we are finishing a project on sheriff road where we put refuge islands at eight intersections. those type of treatments have been shown to reduce pedestrian crashings by 50%. there are a whole lot of things we're doing to essentially slow down motor vehicles to a civil speed. in the strict it's 25 miles an hour unless otherwise posted and also to give pedestrians the facility to cross the street more safely. that tends to actually make jay walking less prevalent. if you feel safe crossing the street where we have tried to provide that facility then you go there instead of just defending for yourself which is what can happen in some cases. >> i like that concept of a road diet. i can use one of those. i think of one in my neighbor.

>> what's being done with infrastructure? >> we're not different than the other 22 districts, as chairman of the human safety and public safety policy committee, a lot of times we don't focus on pedestrian safety bicycle safety and motor safety like we should because this is part of our economy. there's something called bike nomics and we're having a network of bicycles is good for the economy. it's not enough. we need to make sure the trails are clearly marked. in our area, just like many other areas in virginia we have increased funding for transportation recently. some funds have come to improve our network of bike trails. a lot of people were resistant whether that should be done if funds should be dedicated for those kinds of things. they say i'm not putting transportation dollars for someone to walk the in a nice

area. they're commuter routes now. some of the bike lanes are used quite heavily in combination with cars and bicycles and pedestrian pedestrians. for us it's a big deal. we have about 7,000 people that cross from arlington key bridge into the district every day. you imagine 7,000 potential cars that we are keeping off the road. not only do we ask people to engage in a car-free diet where you can lose at least 2,000 pounds in one day because you leave your car at home. >> i like that. >> we encourage people to commute, use bicycles. but you have to be safe. we participate in bike to work day and all those things that need to be done. which have to continue to do more and we do it in different languages, too. >> that's great. like cars, some bodies are bigger than others too. we'll take another quick break

and be back to wrap things up. stay with us.

welcome back. street smart is our topic today. let's wrap up if we can, captain, with something you mentioned during the break. when it comes to pedestrian or bicyclist, there's no such thing as minor damage in an accident. >> correct. every time a car and pedestrian try to occupy the same space, the pedestrian loses every time. it's a serious injury or a serious collision they'll remember for the rest of their lives. >> walter tejada you say remember ef dae sgli exactly. for pedestrians, cross at the corners, wait for the signals and look left right before you cross. with bicyclist, obey the traffic

signals and the signs. that would make life a lot safer for everybody. >> george branyan, there are so many pieces to this campaign not just one entity here education or enforcement. >> we want people to keep their eyes open for the tired faces, faces with tire tracks. we're zeeing a big boost in awareness and recognition. people are remembering that image. you will see it on transit shelters on buses, in buses, radio ads that reference the street smart campaign. this year we have a new tv add which will be shown on nbc network. >> excellent. we're proud to have that. ten seconds left. >> numbers going down citations going up. remember it's a year-round campaign. pedestrian safety is important every day of the year. >> we can't say it enough. gentlemen, thank you so much for coming in and enlightening us all with a very important message. we want to thank you for having

us in on "viewpoint." we'll see you later on "reporter's notebook." "news 4 today" is coming up next.

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right now the southbound lanes of the beltway are closed in prince george's county. maryland state police looking into a crash that happened around 4:00 this morning on the inner loop just before central avenue. no word on any injuries there. >> we are also again to a very cold start. we could even break a record this morning. take a look at those temperatures right now. not as pretty as the capital wheel. storm team meteorologist amelia segal will let us know when everything will warm up. >> good morning. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm angie goff. >> i'm adam tuss. let's get right to it. amelia segal in for chuck bell. it's cold out there this morning. >> absolutely. temperatures