FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Office of the Mayor
September 3, 2014
CONTACT:
Tom Dec
Mayor and City Leaders Launch Stamford Street Smart Initiative
Public Safety & Awareness Campaign
STAMFORD, CT – Mayor David
Martin, joined by city leaders, launched the Stamford Street Smart Initiative,
a major initiative focused on improving pedestrian, driver and cyclist safety
and awareness throughout the City of Stamford. The initiative, coordinated
through the Mayor’s Office, will involve several city departments and
collaboration with community organizations, and focus on enforcement,
engineering and education. The initiative is the first cohesive effort to
improve pedestrian, driver and cyclist safety throughout the city in many
years.
“I am proud to launch the
Stamford Street Smart Initiative and bring together city departments, community
organizations and residents to champion safer streets throughout the city.
There is no single silver bullet that will solve these issues, which is why we
are taking a multi-faceted approach through the Street Smart Initiative,” said
Mayor David Martin. “In the coming weeks and months we will be pursuing a
number of projects to improve safety and raise awareness of pedestrian, driver
and cyclist safety throughout the community.”
In advance of the
announcement, the Mayor held multiple planning meetings with Office of Public
Safety, Health & Welfare; Office of Operations; Board of Education; Grants
Office and others. The Mayor also conducted an analysis of city traffic data,
met with independent traffic engineers and conducted independent research to
explore possible solutions and find best practices.
Although Stamford’s
overall rate of pedestrian injuries over the past several years compares
favorably to other Connecticut cities, residents, elected officials and
community groups have all voiced concerns over pedestrian and driver safety in
recent months. Year to date, Stamford has experienced three pedestrian
fatalities, an increase from prior years.
“There are 130,000 people
who live in Stamford. In addition, there are tens of thousands of people who
drive to Stamford on a daily basis to work, shop and enjoy our great city. We
need to practice safety on our roadways and I am fully supportive of this
initiative,” said Police Chief Jon Fontneau.
Ted Jankowski, Director of
Public Safety, Health & Welfare, made a direct appeal to residents, stating
“Whether you are a driver, cyclist, or pedestrian, the Office of Public Safety
urges you to be Street Smart, to be focused and attentive, to obey the rules of
the road, and to be vigilant. Safety is all of our responsibility. Your actions
may be the difference between life and death.”
Specific steps being taken as part of the Stamford Street Smart Initiative include:
Engineering
Ø Improving crosswalk visibility throughout the city
Ø Synchronizing the city’s traffic signals
Ø Supporting the implementation of a Complete Streets Ordinance
Education
Ø Supporting the Safe Routes to School Program
Ø Hosting a Google Hangout to review in greater detail key statistics and to provide a more in depth discussion of the actions being undertaken
Ø Working in collaboration with community organizations to build awareness
Enforcement
Ø Enforcement operations of the Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit (DUI, seatbelt violations, speeding, etc.)
Ø Crackdown on jaywalking throughout the city
Ø Focus on school bus safety; catching drivers who drive past stopped buses
The first component of the initiative, the Stamford Police Department’s Anti-Distracted Driving Campaign, began this morning. During today's enforcement, the Police Department issued 43 handheld electronic device tickets, 10 red light tickets, and 2 failure to wear seat belt tickets.
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