Writing in Next City, Benton Graham describes the criticism confronted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for its messaging method to highway security, which normally locations the blame for crashes squarely on pedestrians (the highest cause for pedestrian deaths, in keeping with the division’s web site, is “Pedestrians failing to yield the right-of-way to vehicles”) and cyclists.
Meanwhile, “While the state agency lists safety as its number one priority, it only dedicated around 4% of its funds to safety initiatives in its 10-year plan,” Graham notes. Jay Blazek Crossley, government director of Farm & City and an advocate for safer roads, says “TxDOT investing in safe, multimodal streets is the most important thing that it can do to make roads less dangerous.”
Advocates like Blazek Crossley see trigger for optimism in current state and native initiatives, nevertheless. “In addition to infrastructure changes, Blazek Crossley said there is opportunity for safety improvements through policy changes.” FOr instance, “The Lisa Torrey Smith Act passed during the 2021 Texas Legislative Session requires drivers to stop and yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.” TxDOT additionally not too long ago added a pedestrian design part to its roadway design handbook, and cities like Houston are making serious investments in bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
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