Pedestrian Safety Emphasis
Challenge
Walking improves our physical health and the air we breathe, while reducing congestion and the costs of vehicle-focused infrastructure. Pedestrian fatalities accounted for nearly 18 percent of all traffic-related deaths in Utah in 2024. Without improved efforts to protect all road users, we avoid walking and other forms of more sustainable transportation. Our challenge is to improve safety for all road users and encourage more people to walk by making it a safer and more appealing option.
Direction
Improve awareness and safety for and by pedestrians to eliminate crashes involving vulnerable road users.
ACTIONS
Safer Roads
Engineering
- Develop and implement improvement projects including signage, lighting, crosswalk and roadway design features.
- Support and promote the Safe Sidewalks program to help fund and install sidewalks and pedestrian connections in urban areas.
- Improve pedestrian infrastructure and pedestrian safety education through the Safe Routes to School program.
- Increase data accessibility for active transportation to improve planning and coordination among state and local agencies.
- Implement LiDAR-based vulnerable road user detection and accessible pedestrian detection.
Safer Road Users
Education
- Support and implement education programs aimed at all age groups with a focus on shifting culture toward people-centered transportation, through community engagement and broader media and messaging.
- Encourage walking to school and using the Safe Routes Utah tools and resources.
- Support and encourage implementation of Traffic (Safety) Gardens across Utah to provide safe areas for children, parents, and drivers to practice safe behaviors.
- Educate and promote awareness of drivers, parents, and students around schools and bus stops.
- Promote the benefits and importance of wearing reflective clothing at night.
Enforcement
- Meet twice a year with local law enforcement on pedestrian concerns and more pedestrian enforcement.
- Broaden reach of pedestrian enforcement funded shifts or blitzes.
- Promote crosswalk and school zone enforcement/public information campaigns when funding is available.
- Increase involvement of emergency response providers in educational programs and community events.
Emergency Response
- Increase involvement and outreach of the EMS for Children (EMSC) Program across the state.
Leaders
- Utah Department of Transportation
- Utah Department of Public Safety:
- Highway Safety Office
- Utah Highway Patrol
- Bureau of EMS
- Statewide Local Law Enforcement Agencies
- Utah Chiefs of Police Association
- Utah Department of Health and Human Services:
- Bureau of Health Promotion
- Safe Kids Utah
Resources
- UDOT
- Vulnerable Road Users Assessment
- Utah DPS
- Zero Fatalities
- Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
