Could 24—The Mesa Streets & Transportation Division has launched a group survey to gauge individuals’s considerations about highway and site visitors questions of safety, together with an interactive map the place respondents can pinpoint particular downside.
Sabine King, supervising engineer with Streets & Transportation, mentioned the survey — a part of the town’s Complete Security Motion Plan — goals to determine the important thing points that group members are dealing with on the highway.
“We’re doing the outreach to the general public to get some enter from individuals which might be in Mesa, to see the place probably the most considerations are, so we will actually cater our efforts in direction of these areas and get the most effective outcomes,” King mentioned.
Primarily based on the suggestions, the division will then develop data-driven options to coach group members about highway security whereas it addresses site visitors and highway security considerations strategically
“We are going to give you some initiatives or some methods that we will make use of right here within the metropolis so as to scale back crashes,” King mentioned.
King mentioned her division analyzes crashes throughout the town however that it additionally wants enter from individuals who dwell or work in — or journey by way of — Mesa.
“We mix these two datasets to give you a method on addressing security in Mesa,” King mentioned.
The division mentioned a median 4 individuals are killed or severely injured on Mesa’s roadways each week.
It decided that between 2017 and 2022, greater than half of damage crashes occurred at intersections, and 21% of deadly or critical crashes in Mesa concerned driving behaviors like dashing and affect of alcohol or medication. King mentioned there additionally has been a rise in critical crashes involving pedestrians, bicycle and bike customers.
She mentioned, “40% of these deadly and critical damage crashes embody bicyclists, pedestrians, and bikes, and that is actually been going up particularly within the final three years.”
Mesa’s primary purpose is to scale back deadly and critical crashes by 30% by 2030.
The division mentioned the research will improve Mesa’s efforts to scale back crashes by way of security planning and training, redesigned streets and updates to insurance policies and operations.
King mentioned the division seems to be at options like “engineering, enhancing our roadways to an infrastructure challenge, work with police to do enforcement or possibly modify our present legal guidelines to deal with a few of the points we’re seeing.”
The survey asks respondents to rank roadway areas and driving behaviors the place they’ve most security considerations with. Some roadway areas listed are bike lanes, crosswalks, intersections, flip lanes, primary roads and extra.
The survey additionally asks respondents to rank a number of proposed options to reinforce highway security for pedestrians, cyclists, public transit customers and drivers in Mesa.
The web group survey consists of an interactive map the place respondents can use a marker instrument to determine a selected space with a textual content field.
The map additionally consists of completely different strategies of transportation like strolling, driving, and biking, in addition to particular roadway security classes like intersection, transit and lighting.
For the reason that on-line survey opened, respondents recognized an quite a few areas the place they discovered security considerations with. One nameless respondent marked the intersection College Drive and Nation Membership Drive with a caption “Bike lanes too slender on the intersection.”
The division can also be investing in driving training options. King mentioned it gives a group pledge system, the place individuals can promise to observe secure driving practices. It additionally gives completely different bicycle and pedestrian training courses.
“We understand it will possibly’t all be fastened with engineering or enforcement with police,” King mentioned. “We actually want the group to have a tradition shift to assist us in enhancing security. All people’s going to must have part of it.”
Mesa is internet hosting the highway security survey and plan on its challenge internet web page, and is speaking the survey by way of information releases, public security and metropolis administration newsletters, and Valley Metro and social media networks.
The highway security survey is open till Could 31.
The division is providing a $100 reward card raffle for survey contributors and their suggestions.
“We simply wished to deliver consideration to this effort, and actually get individuals on board with the concept we try to deal with this concern in Mesa and we actually wish to associate with them,” mentioned metropolis spokeswoman Cassie Robles.
