New PennDOT Videos Aimed at Educating Children About Pedestrian Safety

About 7,000 children were involved in a pedestrian accident in the past five years in Pennsylvania. In response to the staggering number, PennDOT has produced four new videos aimed at educating children, motorists and parents about pedestrian safety.

The videos can be viewed on the department’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/pennsylvaniaDOT. A video about pedestrian safety for young drivers can also be seen above.

“Whether you’re in a vehicle or a pedestrian walking across the street, we all have equal responsibilities to think of safety first on our roadways,” said Barry Schoch, PennDOT secretary. “These videos are a great way to educate our youth on lifelong safe walking habits, and they’re a resource for parents to help keep their kids safe.”

Each video targets different audiences at various stages of learning pedestrian safety or driving near pedestrians. The videos are intended primarily for parents of elementary school students, elementary-school students, middle-school students and young or first-time drivers.

The videos for elementary- and middle-school students explain walking signals and scenarios, stress safe walking behaviors and reinforce who should accompany them. The video for parents demonstrates walking safety and emphasizes the importance of modeling safe behaviors for their children. Younger drivers are shown that with their driving freedom comes the responsibility of watching for travelers of all types, especially in school zones.

PennDOT data shows that in the past five years, there were 4,558 pedestrian injuries and 743 pedestrians lost their lives in Pennsylvania traffic crashes. In that same time period, there were 22,144 reported crashes involving pedestrians.

Of the pedestrians killed in crashes in the past five years, 86 were 18 years old or younger. Though those under 18 years old make up roughly 26 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for 33 percent of the total pedestrian injuries.