The Town of Chapel Hill has started a Pedestrian Safety Campaign following the death of two pedestrians on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The initiative will start with “Phone Free Friday,” an educational campaign that urges residents to look up from their phones and pay attention to their surroundings. Ran Northam, Chapel Hill Police Department's spokesperson, said this month-long initiative will encourage people to travel without dangerous distractions.
“We often see that people walking at crosswalks will have their face down in their phones,” Northam said. “And we want to encourage people to have their eyes up, to check both ways, even if they are legally crossing the road. It’s always good to have that extra second to prepare or to react to something happening around them.”
Northam said the town wants to encourage residents, whether they are walking, driving or biking, to travel in a way that will prevent further accidents.
“We saw these issues and we wanted to get out in front of the community with words of education and encouragement of conversation amongst one another to encourage safe travel behaviors,” Northam said.
Town Council Member Hongbin Gu said the town is discussing different options specifically in response to the incidents on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard such as additional traffic lights and improved lighting and educational campaigns.
Gu said the Pedestrian Safety Campaign is important because it will help educate the town about transportation safety.
“Ultimately, no rules or regulations will be effective unless we can change the behavior of people,” Gu said. “And that has to be both the behavior of drivers and the behavior of pedestrians.”
Following the “Phone Free Friday” initiative, the town will promote different educational messages about transportation safety. The campaign will focus on promoting safety for all travelers in the town, according to a Chapel Hill press release.
