Pedestrian Safety Links
  • Making Your Community More Walkable 
  • NHTSA Links & Contact List
  • Walking Hatboro
  • WalkingInfo.org
  • Walkable.org
  • Pedestrians.org
  • Peds.org
  • Pedestrian Safety Checklist
    This checklist is a rebroadcast of  the NHTSA web site for pedestrian safety.   The three things that are important to improve pedestrian safety is Education, Engineering, and Enforcement.I have a condensed version of the checklist for my community.  It is  more "printer friendly" and can be printed on two pages with no graphics. The HHTSA has approved the reproduction of these documents. 
    The printer friendly version is located here:Walking Hatboro

    HOW WALKABLE IS YOUR COMMUNITY?

    Walkability Checklist

     
    Everyone benefits from walking. But walking needs to be safe and easy. Take a walk with your child and use this checklist to decide if your neighborhood is a friendly place to walk. If you find problems, there are ways you can make things better. 

    Getting started: Pick a place to walk, like the route to school, a friend's house, or just somewhere fun to go. Read over the checklist before you go, and as you walk, note the locations of things you would like to change. At the end of your walk, circle an overall rating for each question. Then add up the numbers to see how you rated your walk. 
    Rating scale 1 =awful 4 = good
      2 = many problems 5 = very good
      3 = some problems 6 = excellent

    1.Did you have enough room to walk safely?
     
    Yes  Some problems: 
      ___ Sidewalks or paths started and stopped
      ___ Sidewalks were broken or cracked
      ___ Sidewalks were blocked with poles, signs, dumpsters, etc.
      ___ No sidewalks, paths, or shoulders
      ___ Too much traffic
      ___ Something else?_____________________________

    Locations of problems:_________________________ 
     
     

    2.Was it easy to cross streets?
     
    Yes  Some problems: 
      ___ Road was too wide
      ___ Traffic signals made us wait too long or did not give us enough time to cross
      ___ Needed striped crosswalks or traffic signals
      ___ Parked cars blocked our view of traffic
      ___ Trees or plants blocked our view of traffic
      ___ Needed curb ramps or ramps needed repair
      ___ Something else?________________________________

    Locations of problems:__________________________ 

    3.Did drivers behave well?
     
    Yes  Some problems: 
    Drivers ...
      ___ Backed out of driveways without looking
      ___ Did not yield to people crossing street
      ___ Turned into people crossing streets
      ___ Drove too fast
      ___ Sped up to make it through traffic lights or drove through red lights
      ___ Something else?________________________________

    Locations of problems:________________________ 
     

    4.Was it easy to follow safety rules?
       
    Could you and your child ...
    Yes  ___No

    ___Cross at crosswalks or where you could see and be seen by drivers? 

    ___Stop and look left, right, and left again before crossing streets? 

    ___Walk on sidewalks, or shoulders (if no sidewalks), facing traffic? 

    ___Cross with the light? 

    Locations of problems:____________________________ 

    5.Was your walk pleasant?
     
    Yes  Some unpleasant things: 
      ___ Needs more grass, flowers, or trees
      ___ Scary dogs
      ___ Suspicious activity
      ___ Not well lit
      ___ Dirty, lots of litter or trash
      ___ Something else?____________________________

    Locations of problems:________________________ 

    How does your neighborhood stack up? Add up your ratings and decide.

    1___ 
    2___ 
    3___ 
    4___ 
    5___ 
    (      ) = total 
    How did your neighborhood rate?
      26 - 30 Celebrate! You have a great neighborhood for walking.
    21 - 25 Celebrate a little. Your neighborhood is pretty good.  
      16 - 20 Okay, but it needs work.
    11 - 15 It needs lots of work. You deserve better than that.  
      5 - 10 Call out the National Guard before you walk. It's a disaster area.

    Did You Find Something
    That Needs to be Changed?

    The next page has suggestions for making neighborhoods better places for walking that match up with the problems you identified. 

    During your walk how did you feel physically? Could you go as far or as fast as you wanted? Were you short of breath, tired, or did you have sore feet or muscles? The next page also has suggestions about walking for exercise.

    Walkability Checklist| Making Your Community More Walkable | Contact List