City of Oklahoma City Videos, 12 Oct 2015

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: City News - "Watch for Me OKC"

Description

We share our responsibility to look out for each other while we’re getting around town. The Watch For Me OKC public safety campaign will bring this issue to the forefront in Oklahoma City, highlighting the safest ways to use our roadways and building protected bicycle lanes.

As OKC continues to build infrastructure to make the community safer for walkers, cyclists and drivers, Watch For Me OKC brings together the best safety tips for navigating our streets, public outreach efforts and the new bike lanes to demonstrate the safest way to build and rebuild roads for all modes of transportation.

Mayor Mick Cornett launched the Watch For Me OKC campaign Monday at SW 59 and Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the more dangerous intersections in OKC for collisions between cyclists or pedestrians and motorists. MAPS 3 and 2007 general obligation bond sidewalks in the area will help improve safety, but it’s also up to us to watch out for each other.

“We need pedestrians and cyclists to look out for motorists, and we need motorists to cut down on distractions so they can watch out for pedestrians and cyclists,” Mayor Mick Cornett said.

While OKC grows and more people are using our streets, accidents have continued to injure and kill. Twenty-five pedestrians and two cyclists have been killed in collisions with vehicles in Oklahoma City in the last two years alone.

“It’s everyone’s responsibility to know how to stay safe and follow the law, however you’re using our streets,” police Capt. Paco Balderrama said.

Efforts to build more street infrastructure in OKC include the 2007 general obligation bond issue, MAPS 3 and general fund projects. Construction on sidewalks and trails, roadway improvement projects, traffic studies and other projects continue around OKC every day.
“Watch For Me OKC’s ideas and safety corridor are part of comprehensive planning for our future as we continue to make it safer and easier to get around OKC,” said the Planning Department’s Dennis Blind.

Visit www.okc.gov/watchforme for more information.

A

Dennis flying with the City Planning Department and we're helping to facilitate the watch for me, okay, see program that we're celebrating this morning and to to illustrate how we can all share the road and move safely together within our roadways. The city is implementing three demonstration projects that will one the first one will be on Walker between 6 and 13, and then we'll have fourth street between western and broadway, and the third one will be on char, tell from 13th down to sheridan.

A

These three four doors are unique and specific, because we're able the city is able to restripe them and by restriping them we can provide for safe, protected bike lanes. Safe protected crosswalks for pedestrians will have protected intersections as well as safe travel lanes. So we're looking forward to getting these projects implemented. This fall and we really look forward to having citizen Oklahoma City ride on these corridors. Walk within these corridors drive within these corridors. This will all be safe and improve. So we look forward to that, and this.

B

Is really just a reminder of how we all need to be looking out for each other? A lot of the advice is common sense. Pedestrians should wear reflective clothing walk into the traffic, so they can be better seen. A cyclist should wear a helmet, be looking out for motorist and motorists should be looking out for everybody. There are a lot of distractions in our society today and a lot of times those carry over into our trafficking and our transportation needs.

B

So, if you're on the phone be paying attention, if you're on a bicycle, please be looking out for cars and at the end of the day, we all want to make this the safest place. We can. We have developed a map that I think shows. This is a significant problem.

B

We need to address we're seeing pedestrian and car incidents pick up over the last few years, we've been fortunate this year with a fewer number of cyclist incidents with motorists, but still it's a problem, and it's not a problem necessarily that we're focusing on downtown where you might think most of the traffic occurs.

B

Much of the problem is happening in our suburban areas and sidewalks are going to help, but at the end of the day, it's a common courtesy- and you know- we've gone decades here with not seeing a lot of pedestrians walking along our major corridors. Now we're seeing that pickup and thankfully it's making us a more pedestrian friendly community, but it is something that the drivers are effortless additional responsibilities that they're going to have to pay more attention. So thank you again.

B

It's called the watch for me campaign and we really need to get this many motorists as we can to start paying more attention to pedestrians and cyclists on the roadways. We.

C

Had a high number of pedestrian deaths here in Oklahoma City last year, and it's a very great concern to us last. In the last two years, we've had 25 pedestrians and two cyclists who hit cars and killed here in the city. Drivers, cyclists, pedestrians have all shared responsibility to be safe and to look out for one another. The majority of the tragic deaths that occurred in the last two years he could have been avoided. We were just paying a little bit more attention to our surroundings by break down.

C

Most of the pedestrians killed, we're middle-aged males. However, those numbers do include males females, children and adults, ages, 12 83, most of the fatalities that occurred effort under the northwest part of Oklahoma City police officers see every day these types of accidents, people not paying attention if you're, walking or jogging, as the mayor said, avoid our distractions make sure you know what's going on look both ways before you cross.

C

The street watch returning cars cross safely when exiting the bus, carry allied at nighttime and wear reflective clothing, also log base to the traffic and be careful in parking lots. We do have a large number of accidents that occur in parking lots if you are cycling cycle in the same direction as traffic riding with a traffic flow is a lot safer and people can see you better. As the mayor said, always wear a helmet. Most of these accidents can be survivable unless you're not wearing a helmet. You have to protect your head.

C

If you are driving, always buckle up, don't driver park in a bike lane and stay off the phone also watch for motorcycles. One of the things we haven't talked about yet, is that last year we had 55 people killed on motorcycles. We know that most of these accidents has something to do with the drivers not seen the motorcycles, because they're smaller vehicles I should be treated just like vehicles when they're on the road cyclists are required to follow the same rules of stripers. That includes coming to a full stop at stop signs.

C

Drivers should also be mindful of school zones. School is now in full session, be mindful, especially in the mornings in the afternoon, the flashing yellow lights which lets you know the kids are in the area. Kid children are unpredictable, they can cross the road they can run across and it's very very important to look out for them. Also, it's going to start getting darker soon with daylight savings, be mindful of that November. First, we will begin oklahoma, city's new peg steam ordinance, do not fix and drive.

C

If you are driving, do not send emails, do not check your email. Do not use those apps. If it's that important, please pull over, pull over and check your phone, but don't do it while you're driving. Thank you very much. We want everybody to be safe and please support us in this campaign to keep all our cyclists motorists joggers of drivers save our city. Thank you very much.