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Livable communities are a high priority of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Obama Administration. A livable community is one that provides safe and convenient transportation choices to all citizens, whether it's by walking, bicycling, transit, or driving. Each year, unfortunately, pedestrian fatalities comprise about 12 percent of all traffic fatalities and there are approximately 4,000 pedestrian deaths. Another 59,000 pedestrians are injured in roadway crashes annually. The numbers are improving, but we still have a ways to go. Pedestrian safety improvements depend on an integrated approach that involves the 4 E's: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, and Emergency Services. The FHWA's Office of Safety develops projects, programs and materials for use in reducing pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities.

Yet now, after decades of overall improvement in driving safety, traffic fatalities are again on the rise. Deaths increased nationwide 8 percent last year - the largest year-to-year increase in a half-century. For the first six months of 2016, driving fatalities are up 9 percent over the same period last year, the National Safety Council reported Tuesday. The rebounding economy plays a large role, but safety experts say there is a new danger driving part of the increase: distracted driving. Drivers now are not just talking on cellphones - they're texting, using apps to follow directions, even playing Pokemon Go. Stopping this epidemic of distracted driving, safety advocates say, will take a societal shift to render such behavior socially unacceptable.

Bicycles are here to stay as part of our transportation system. While MAP-21 reorganizes and reduces funding opportunities, advocates and agency staff will need to look beyond Transportation Alternatives. This may be the Highway Safety Improvement Program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, Surface Transportation Program, or a number of other federal and state sources. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the FY2012 grant recipients for their Bus Livability grant program. Highlighting the importance of connecting bicycles and transit, many of the approved projects include a bicycle component. At the same time, states are recognizing and funding important bicycle programs and projects. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley recently announced 28 Bikeways Program Grants, part of his Cycle Maryland initiative. The grant winning projects include on and off-road bicycle route connections, bike route signage, bike racks and safety improvements. Salisbury, a recent host of a Bicycle Friendly Communities workshop, received funding to complete their downtown bicycle lanes project (way to go bike-SBY!). Baltimore will be using the grant to install a downtown cycletrack. Click here for a complete list of projects. As these two programs show, there are funds available for bicycles, but not always in the first place you look. Advocates and agency staff will need to be creative and tenacious in finding sources and getting projects funded. The Advocacy Advance team is always here to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and help get your projects funded.

We're very pleased to present a post by Paul James of Pedestrianise London, on the subject of Sustainable Safety - the Dutch approach to road and street design that reduces danger, and improves accessibility and mobility for all, regardless of their mode of transport.

In 2012, 4,743 pedestrians and 726 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts). Here are more facts and figues on pedestrian and bicycle crashes: Click here to jump to Bicycle Crash figures In 2012, 4,743 people were killed in pedestrian/motor vehicle crashes, more than 12 people every day of the year ( NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts).

"The National Association of City Transportation Officials publishes its own, much more cutting-edge, design guide for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure."

Ten ways you can get hit by cars (with pictures) and meaningful ways to avoid them. Not your typical lame Bike Safety page.

Four foot passing law in Pennsylvania includes other bike safety protections.

A little background: First, we are talking only about high-volume streets here. Neighborhood streets can have much narrower lanes. The classic American residential street has a 12-foot lane that handles traffic in two directions. And many busy streets in my hometown of Washington, D.C., have eight-foot lanes that function wonderfully. These are as safe and efficient as they are illegal in most of the United States, and we New Urbanists have written about them plenty before, and built more than a few. But what concerns us here are downtown streets, suburban arterials and collectors, and those other streets that are expected to handle a good amount of traffic, and are thus subject to the mandate of free flow. Second, you should know that these streets used to be made up of 10-foot lanes. Many of them still exist, especially in older cities, where there is no room for anything larger. The success of these streets has had little impact on the traffic-engineering establishment, which, over the decades, has pushed the standard upward, almost nationwide, first to 11 feet, and then to 12. Now, in almost every place I work, I find that certain streets are held to a 12-foot standard, if not by the city, then by a state or a county department of transportation.

More than £200 million is to be spent on making the country's roads safer for cycling, the deputy prime minister will announce today, heralding the biggest single investment in cycle safety under the coalition. The autumn statement next week will include a £114 million boost for eight cities around England to improve their cycle networks, Nick Clegg will tell a cycling conference in Bristol.

Infrastructure!

Excellent Pa Bike Safety Video's.

Support of safe driving around bicyclists by chief of pollice

See pages 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 26 Countywide: TE Line Item: Countywide transportation enhancements funding for eligible project categories (e.g., ped / bike, scenic / historic preservation, archaeological planning) administered jointly by the County and PennDOT TE Line-Item - was assumed to include 100% of the applicable TE revenues, minus any "already programmed" TE projects on the 2011-2014 TIP. All TE projects must relate to surface transportation within one or more of the 12 eligible activities listed in specific program guidance and requirements for Erie County. PennDOT's guidance on Developing Regional Long Range Plans indicates that successful plans should "Emphasize Planning, not Programming". To that end, policy-level guidance is included within the 2040 LRTP to provide consistent and meaningful direction for the MPO and stakeholders towards achieving the plan's overall goals and objectives. The guidance focuses on several areas including: * General Planning Practices * Land Use Planning * Economic Vitality * Multimodal Transportation Safety * Multimodal Transportation Security * Roadway System * Pedestrian / Bicycle / Trail Network * Public Transportation * Rail Service * Air Travel * Waterborne Transportation * System Sustainability and Livability * System Efficiency and Preservation The plan encompasses all projects selected as part of the Erie LRTP's Decision Lens evaluation and screening process, all projects currently included on the 2011-2014 TIP, and additional interstate maintenance, transit, and airport projects that are funded or programmed through separate sources. Fiscal constraint and a reasonable set of expectations as to projects that can be implemented throughout the life of the plan were maintained through comparison to the established time periods and revenue assumptions listed below: * Period "0" = 2011-2012, or the remainder of the ongoing 2011-2012 TIP projects. * Period