The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) will re-launch its highly successful Go Human advertising campaign next month in San Bernardino County and region-wide to encourage drivers to slow down and look for people walking and biking.
Working with the San Bernardino Department of Public Health and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority SCAG has secured advertising space throughout the county on billboards located in areas with high rates of collisions. The campaign also will feature radio spots and digital ads, and will run during the month of May.
The May re-launch coincides with National Bike Month, and is part of Go Human’s broader public awareness efforts to promote traffic safety and encourage people to walk and bike more throughout the region. A second phase is planned for July and August, to coincide with Back to School and the annual rise in collisions involving people walking.
In the six-county SCAG region (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura), people walking and biking make up about 12% of all trips, but were involved in about 16% of all traffic collisions and accounted for nearly 33% of all roadway fatalities in 2016. According to the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) 1,580 people died and more than 149,000 people were injured in collisions in the six-county SCAG region in 2016. In the same year, 258 people were killed and 15,961 people were injured in San Bernardino County. The Go Human campaign aims to help combat and reverse these alarming statistics. To acquire more perspective on how the region is performing, including on a county-by-county basis, review SCAG’s Transportation Safety Regional Existing Conditions Report that was released last fall: https://bit.ly/2qwoMeC.
“Active transportation is an essential part of a holistic transportation network. By improving safety on our streets for people walking and biking, we are providing more transportation options for residents without cars and those connecting to public transit on foot and by bicycle,” said Deborah Robertson, Mayor of Rialto and a member of SCAG’s Regional Council.
Hasan Ikhrata, SCAG’s Executive Director, notes that active transportation is an essential element of Southern California’s long-term land-use planning and mobility plans. SCAG’s 2016-2040 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS) identified $12.9 billion in active transportation investments across the six-county region, of which $4.5 billion is expected to be returned to the region through health savings associated with a reduction in chronic diseases resulting from more people walking and biking. In 2017, San Bernardino County was awarded nearly $7 million in funding through the California Transportation Commission for local and regional active transportation.
“Combined with improved roadway safety, these programs are significantly improving the quality of life for communities and residents throughout our six-county region,” Ikhrata said. “Largely through the help of Go Human, Southern California has quickly become a national model for active transportation advocacy and implementation.”
Funding for Go Human is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.