Pedestrian safety - Global Road Safety Partnership

Why is addressing pedestrian safety necessary?
• Collaboration with partners. Pedestrian safety is a multi-dimensional problem
that requires a comprehensive view when examining determinants, consequences
and solutions. While different agencies may have responsibility for specific
aspects of pedestrian safety, the reality is that a coordinated approach – involving
collaboration among policy-makers, decision-makers, researchers, political leaders,
civil society and the public – is required in order to improve pedestrian safety,
especially in low- and middle-income countries. Collaboration may take many
forms, one of them being sharing responsibilities or activities in a pedestrian safety
programme (see Box 1.1). Collaboration among various agencies and sectors is a
cornerstone of the Safe System approach.
BOX 1.1: Sharing responsibilities in a pedestrian safety programme in
São Paulo
In 2010, Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego (CET), the agency responsible for managing transport in the Brazillian
city of São Paulo, launched a pedestrian safety programme aimed at reducing the number of pedestrians
killed by 50% by the end of 2012. Interventions included media campaigns and awareness raising, engineering
measures and traffic law enforcement. To coordinate implementation, various agencies were brought together
and assigned responsibility for specific activities: The City Transportation Secretariat coordinated the overall
implementation of the programme; CET was responsible for engineering, education and enforcement measures;
the Municipal Government of São Paulo, through the Department of Communication, was responsible
for media campaigns; the Labour Secretariat was in charge of supervisors at pedestrian crossings; the traffic
police was responsible for law enforcement; and São Paulo Transporte (SPTrans) – the company that manages
bus transportation – was responsible for supervising and training bus drivers.
© Marcelo Fortin
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