Tag Archives: Education

1st grade transportation advocates of Summit

Aug 7, 2017 | by Active Trans

First graders from Graves Elementary School in the Village of Summit are on a mission to improve their community and their walk to school. Hundreds of kids in this southwest suburb walk to school every day. While the young students enjoy their commute, they also encounter barriers that need improvement. In April of this year, a first-grade class sent Mayor Sergio Rodriguez a letter (see below) asking for a meeting and requesting that the village work on improving the pedestrian bridge that offers one of the few connections between the north and south sides of Summit, which is separated by railroad tracks. The bridge (pictured left) is used by hundreds of students each day to get to and from school,...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, South Suburbs, transit, Walking

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Dedicated bus lanes in Cleveland: a major success

May 23, 2017 | by Active Trans

Speeding up buses in urban areas and attracting more riders is a difficult task if transit vehicles are constantly stuck in traffic.Cleveland learned this lesson nearly 10 years ago and it continues to reap the benefits.In building a corridor that prioritizes bus traffic with dedicated lanes, Cleveland embraced the reality that buses are moving many more people much more efficiently than cars with one or two passengers. That extra street space is extremely valuable in cities like Cleveland and Chicago.  The Euclid Corridor, which connects Cleveland’s two biggest employment centers (downtown Cleveland and University Circle), has always been a center of commerce in the city. In 1993, a task force was set up to find better ways to serve public...

Tags: Bicycling, Education, Planning, Walking

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Los Angeles ‘signals’ the way to better bus service

May 22, 2017 | by Active Trans

Chicago should look to the West Coast as it considers investing more to speed up local buses.Seventeen years ago, when Los Angeles County decided to give its buses priority at traffic signals, the buses experienced huge gains in speed and reliability. The county has a massive bus system that accounts for a majority of all public transportation trips.Through surveys and communications with bus riders, the transit agency learned that existing local and limited-stop service was too slow and unreliable. The Metro Rapid service (LA’s limited-stop bus service) sought to address these shortcomings through the introduction of service that would improve operating speeds, reduce passenger wait and dwell times, and broaden service dependability. The most beneficial improvement proved to be traffic signal...

Tags: Advocacy, Education, Planning, Walking

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Study highlights safety benefits of Chicago’s red light cameras

Mar 20, 2017 | by Active Trans

A new study from the Northwestern University Transportation Center found Chicago’s red light camera program delivers significant safety benefits.Researchers found serious right-angle and turning crashes decreased by 19 percent at intersections with cameras, and injury-producing crashes dropped by 10 percent. They also found evidence of a “spillover effect” leading to safety benefits and crash reduction at intersections without cameras.The City of Chicago commissioned the study to evaluate its program and maximize the safety benefits.Active Trans has consistently highlighted photo enforcement as a critical piece of a comprehensive Vision Zero approach to traffic safety.  The Federal Highway Administration first recognized the proven safety benefits of photo enforcement technology in 2005.In 2015 we were joined by physicians, traffic safety experts and victims...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, transit, Walking, zero vision

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Boosting safety with education campaigns

Dec 1, 2016 | by Active Trans

Education is always one of the most talked about topics in traffic safety, and Vision Zero is no different.There’s a perception that if we could just better educate users about how to share the road and travel responsibly, we’d see fewer traffic crashes, serious injuries and fatalities.The reality is public education alone will not solve the problem. The hallmark of a Vision Zero approach to traffic safety is pursuing policy changes in several areas, such as infrastructure, enforcement and commercial vehicle regulation.When done right, cities around the world have shown education can be a powerful tool in traffic safety. Massive public awareness campaigns are exorbitantly expensive and it can be difficult to evaluate their impact. Targeted campaigns that focus on...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Planning, transit, Walking, zero vision

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