UPDATE: Citizen board asks city to review walker safety along Providence - Columbia Missourian

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

A citizen commission is calling for a review of pedestrian safety on South Providence Road after an MU visiting scholar was killed on Jan. 22.

The Public Transit Advisory Commission asked the city to evaluate pedestrian safety along South Providence Road at its meeting Thursday night. Following a proposal from commissioner Rachel Ruhlen, the commission voted to send a letter to Mayor Bob McDavid, thanking him for addressing the issue of pedestrian safety, and making two requests:

That the mayor hold a press conference to vow his support for the improvement of pedestrian safety in Columbia.

That the mayor attend personally — or send a representative to — a Mayors' Challenge summit, which will be held March 12 in Washington D.C., in the framework of the Mayors' Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets.

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UPDATE: Citizen board asks city to review walker safety along Providence - Columbia Missourian

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MoBikeFed comment: In the past couple of months, Columbia has had three pedestrian fatalities and more injuries. This has put a spotlight on pedestrian safety in Columbia, which has one of the highest bicycle and pedestrian usage rates of any Missouri city.

All three of the pedestrian fatalities happened on MoDOT roads, and all three appear to involved substandard pedestrian accommodations and/or malfunctioning equipment.

In this case, it is along, very fast stretch of road through a populated part of town, and extremely long distances between intersections with pedestrian crosswalks. In another case, it was a stretch of MoDOT road through town with no sidewalk. In the third case, it appears that the pedestrian crossing signal at the crosswalk may have been malfunctioning.\

This really puts the spotlight on the importance of MoDOT roads and policies in pedestrian safety in Missouri communities.

Because MoDOT roads cut through every Missouri community--but are often high-traffic roads with high speed limits and little pedestrian accessibility--MoDOT's role in creating better pedestrian accessibility and improving pedestrian safety is very important.