Memphis launches campaign aimed at decreasing pedestrian fatalities
Faced with rising fatalities and injuries among pedestrians, the city of Memphis is launching a 12-month campaign aimed at educating drivers about safety on the road.
“First and foremost, we would hope there’s a decrease in the number of crashes that involve pedestrians and people on bikes, a decrease in serious injuries and deaths,” said Nick Oyler, manager for the city’s Bikeway and Pedestrian Program. “Aside from that, (we want) just a general awareness in the public that this is happening, that these deaths are not inevitable, they can be prevented, that everyone has a role to play in safer streets.”
According to the city, there’s been a 127% increase in traffic fatalities across all forms of transportation since 2017 — and 37% of all pedestrian deaths since 2015 were between 2021 and 2022.
In 2022, the number of pedestrians killed in the city of Memphis rose to 83
(compared to 42 in 2019, 66 in 2020 and 61 in 2021), according to the city. An additional two bicyclists were also killed in crashes in 2022.
While the ultimate goal of the city is to design and build safer streets, immediate action was also needed. The “Getting There Together Campaign,” launched Thursday, is the first safety campaign the city has done on walking and biking, according to Oyler.
It includes a website of resources, where people can download printable posters urging drivers to stop for people at crosswalks, social media graphics urging drivers to slow down and posters of crash statistics.
Over the next 12 months, the city will also have public service announcements, radio advertisements, social media posts and possibly special events about road safety.
The content of the materials was not developed in a vacuum, Oyler said. The city involved focus groups including community members, safety advocates and members of bicycling clubs.
That has resulted in the messaging being a bit different than some other cities have done, Oyler said. In Memphis, the campaign focuses on urging drivers to follow the rules of the road and to drive safely, rather than “victim-blaming” by asking pedestrians to behave differently such as wearing reflective gear at night.
“Walking is not an extreme sport. It shouldn’t require special gear,” Oyler said. “It’s the drivers who have the ability to maim and kill when something goes wrong. Drivers have a disproportionate responsibility to be safe and keep others safe.”
Some of the resources already available from the campaign include telling drivers to stop for people at crosswalks, to slow down and to not text and drive.
“These streets were made for walking,” reads one poster, showing a family walking on a crosswalk in front of a stopped car.
The resources and more statistics on pedestrian injuries and fatalities can be found at www.safestreets901.org.
Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.