Momentum is building. The Best Foot Forward team is hard at work developing the educational and promotional materials we’ll be using to raise community awareness of the Florida Statute that requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. As the illustration above suggests, enforcement will play an important role in helping us get more drivers to yield, but education and public awareness are also important.
As we enter the “Fair Warning” phase of the project, we are looking for community leaders to help us get the word out. Community groups, social service organizations, churches, anywhere we can find large groups of people interested helping us make our streets safer, we’ll be there, spreading the word, until it will be hard to find anyone who isn’t aware of the law. Hopefully they’ll join the cause and proudly post their promise with one of our: “I Yield 4 Peds” stickers.
We’ll be posting more of our materials as we get them. Let’s start with a pop quiz. Which side of this intersection is considered a legal crosswalk where drivers must yield to pedestrians under Florida law?
Trick question: ALL sides are legal, enforceable crosswalks. Unless a driver has been granted specific permission to proceed — such as with a green traffic signal, drivers are required to yield to pedestrians at all intersections, whether or not a crosswalk is marked.
