“Look For Me” campaign from Walk Bike Nashville encourages safe driving behavior.

2020 IS THE DEADLIEST YEAR ON RECORD FOR PEDESTRIANS.

For the past two years, during November and December, we ran the Look for Me campaign, which included radio ads in English and Spanish and billboards. The Look for Me campaign encourages drivers to take additional steps to be careful. The campaign is funded by the Tennessee Highway Safety Office. 

39 people were killed while walking in Nashville last year, making 2020 the deadliest year on record for pedestrians. 2019 had been the record year with 32 people killed. 39 people is a dramatic increase from 22 people in 2018 and from 12 people a decade ago in 2009.

Pedestrian deaths are largely preventable when cities invest in infrastructure to slow travel speeds and make streets safer. It is unacceptable that this many people are being killed walking in our city.

After daylight saving time ends, more darkness means it can be hard for drivers to see people walking until they are dangerously close. Studies show that the earlier onset of darkness in the fall and winter is directly tied to a spike in traffic fatalities and injuries. The Look for Me campaign emphasizes that speeding greatly increases your chance of a crash with a person walking. Just a 5-mile-per-hour decrease in speed can be the difference between life and death.

In Nashville, on average, more than 70% of all pedestrian fatalities occur at night and more than 70% of all pedestrian fatalities occurred on state controlled arterial roads. These arterial roads, including Murfreesboro, Old Hickory, Gallatin and Nolensville Pikes, have speed limits over 30 mph, multiple lanes, few safe crosswalks and high numbers of transit riders. On these arterial roads, drivers should be looking for pedestrians. Drivers should be aware that there could be people crossing anywhere because there aren't a lot of crosswalks.

Each and every person killed is a loss to our community. We all have a responsibility to look out for each other, stay alert at night, and slow down.

Visit the campaign website, NashvilleLook4Me.com for more information.