City audit shows where Dallas is failing pedestrian safety

DALLAS — A report revealed by the Metropolis of Dallas Auditor’s Workplace offers suggestions on learn how to enhance pedestrian security, and the place town has been falling quick.

Town and the Dallas Division of Transportation have undertaken many packages to enhance pedestrian security and have a aim with a brand new plan, Imaginative and prescient Zero, to remove visitors fatalities and cut back extreme accidents by 50% by 2030. 

A number of streets with a number of pedestrian incidents have been recognized, together with efforts to deal with them, however the audit notes that the Dallas Division of Transportation would not have any efficiency measures or written procedures immediately associated to pedestrian security.

Maps from the audit present the overwhelming majority of those pedestrian incidents occur on downtown streets. Dallas Metropolis Council Member Paul Ridley, whose district covers downtown, stated he thinks it is essential town establishes a transparent precedence on the security of pedestrians.

“In Dallas, we are likely to prioritize vehicular transportation, and I believe our group is demanding that we pay extra consideration to pedestrian and bicycle owner security,” Ridley stated. “It is crucial. If we would like a walkable metropolis, it’s a necessity that we create circumstances which might be secure for pedestrians.”

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Included within the audit are particulars comparable to a backlog of 1,500 crosswalks that have to be repainted, and that town would not keep pedestrian countermeasures as typically as federal and state tips advocate. 

These tips advocate pedestrian visitors indicators get replaced each ten years, however the metropolis solely replaces them upon discover of them needing substitute or by citizen request. 

“It tells me that we might be doing a significantly better job and never simply responding to citizen complaints, however having a daily inspection program,” Ridley stated.

The audit recommends the division develop pedestrian safety-related working procedures and that pedestrian visitors indicators ought to have scheduled inspections for reflectivity and get replaced each ten years as guided. 

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A response from the Dallas Metropolis Supervisor’s workplace included with the audit states the workplace agreed with many of the audit’s suggestions, apart from aligning a upkeep schedule for pedestrian security with main standards and prioritizing pedestrian visitors over different modes of transportation. 

“We imagine that given the number of capabilities of our roadways techniques (e.g. residential, main thoroughfare, and many others), we should prioritize security for all variations of multimodal motion and customers, together with pedestrians,” the Metropolis Supervisor’s response acknowledged. “Furthermore, we imagine town’s Imaginative and prescient Zero initiative will play a sig position in addressing the danger recognized by the auditor and offering a safer roadway system for all customers, together with pedestrians.”

Ridley stated the council could be ignoring town supervisor’s suggestions concerning these two standards. 

Now we have the sources to deal with this challenge, that is why we adopted this Imaginative and prescient Zero plan to direct our sources to reaching the target of zero pedestrian fatalities and a 50% discount in severe accidents,” Ridley stated. “I do not suppose it is enough now to say we do not have the sources.”

Observe: The next video was uploaded on Could 31, 2022