Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Secretary Foxx “gets us”

Secretary Foxx’s remarks at Pro Walk/ Pro Bike/ Pro Place indicate that he understands the importance of ensuring the safety of all road users — pedestrians, cyclists and motorists alike.  During his speech on Wednesday the Secretary shared both a personal story about a harrowing experience as a pedestrian and announced a new United States DOT initiatives aiming to increase bicycling and walking across the US while also reducing pedestrian and bicyclist fatality rates. Read on for great coverage of the speech from the Post Gazette.

By Andrew Goldstein / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Anthony Foxx has experienced the dangers of walking on city streets “up close and personal.”

The former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., was jogging down the street one morning before work when he came to an intersection where a car making a right turn bumped him in the knee as he attempted to cross the street. He was not injured, but the incident galvanized him to think about the issues pedestrians face.

“This is not just an issue of behavior on the part of people who are bicycling or people who are walking or using the streets as pedestrians — it’s an issue of making sure that we have created definable places for folks to travel however they travel,” he said. “So this is an issue that I feel very passionately about.”

Mr. Foxx, who is now the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, noted the importance of creating transportation networks where everyone can be safe as he addressed the crowd Wednesday morning at the Pro Walk/?Pro Bike/?Pro Place conference in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. In 2013, pedestrian-related crashes represented 3.5 percent of all reported accidents in Pennsylvania, and bicycle crashes represented 1.1 percent, according to statistics provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Statistics showed 13 pedestrians were killed in Allegheny County in 2013.

Click here to read the full article and see the US DOT’s plans for promoting biking and walking.