“Remember. Support. Act.”

Starting 25 years ago, the World Day of Remembrance is about remembering the fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways, supporting all of those impacted by the event, and acting in a way that helps to change and prevent future crashes from happening. 

This global movement started as a way to bring awareness about the scope of these crashes and to help nations shed light on their impact locally, nationally, and globally. 

Major world organizations including the World Health Organization, United Nations Road Safety Collaboration members, and UN Member States, adopted a resolution in 1995 to call for this annual day of remembrance. The WDoR website describes this day’s significance best: “It is a high-profile global event to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families and communities – millions added each year to countless millions already suffering: a truly tremendous cumulative toll.” 

Traffic Crashes Locally

Pittsburgh is no stranger to traffic crashes. The City is home to some of the most dangerous intersections and streets in the county and state. This map of reported bike crashes shows where many of these incidents happen for people who chose to bike. PennDOT also has a webpage dedicated to crash facts and statistics. For example, over the last five years, Allegheny county has seen 414 reported pedestrian injuries and 13 pedestrian related deaths as a result of roadway related crashes. Within the City of Pittsburgh, pedestrians comprise about a quarter of all traffic fatalities. PennDOT also has a crash information tool to further analyze crashes.

However, no matter how many tools are out there and analysis done, it doesn’t bring back a life that is lost, nor the toll that each death has on a community. It is important that we use this World Day of Remembrance to call on us to pay attention to this public health crisis that roadways bring to a community.

What you can do in Pittsburgh to make our streets safer 

Get involved locally. BikePGH helps over 20 local bike and pedestrian neighborhood groups work on making their streets safer for people who are biking and walking. These groups learn how to organize and advocate for their communities. 

Learn about policies and laws that can improve roadways. It is the belief of many traffic engineers, designers, advocates, and policy makers that well designed streets can encourage safer driving behavior. Unfortunately, there are a lot of policies out there that dictate what engineers, planners and local government agencies can legally design for a street. Learning more about advantageous policies that give flexibility and tools to the designers, engineers, planners, and government to fund projects can help give more control to those who want to improve and update outdated policies and design guidelines. Advocating and encouraging things like Complete Street Policies and Vision Zero Policies in your area is one place to get started. 

Follow and Support MoveForwardPGH. Right now, the City of Pittsburgh is working to complete the bike network by rapidly implementing the Bike(+) Plan, released in June of 2020. MoveForwardPGH is an initiative of the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to implement their new Bike(+) Plan. Working with its local nonprofit partners, BikePGH and Healthy Ride, the City will engage the community throughout the process of installing new bike-friendly connections throughout Pittsburgh.

Join the movement! Starting local and getting involved are two great places to get started. Reaching out to organizations like BikePGH and getting involved with our work is another way to get involved. We’ll be happy to put you in touch with other organizations who are doing similar work in the City and of the greater Pittsburgh area.

Call to Action This Sunday, November 15

On Sunday, November 15, South Hills Safe Streets will be hosting a virtual memorial bike ride to remember Austin Fike who was killed last year in a roadway crash in Brookline. 

Virtual Austin Fike Memorial Ride Details:

Date: Sunday, November 15, 2020
Time: 11am – 12pm
Location: Anywhere you want
Facebook Event Link
How to Participate: Do your own virtual ride or ride to Austin’s memorial, then share a picture of your route or the memorial to social media with the hashtags #RideForAustin, #WDoR, #RoadTrafficVictims, #WDoR2020 and #RememberSupportAct. Then, share our call to action letter with the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and Councilman Coghill’s office (letter will be posted in the event discussion on Sunday). Tweet your photos and tag @CoghillAnthony (Councilman Anthony Coghill) @PghDOMI (City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure) @billpeduto (Mayor Bill Peduto) @walk_left (Director of DOMI, Karina Ricks)

Please follow the guidelines per the CDC recommendations while you are out and about. Please stay home if you feel unwell.