ROSSVILLE, Md (WMAR) — They’ve been out all of May for Bike Safety Month. Tonight, the Look Alive campaign is turning heads in Baltimore County, hoping to spread awareness and to prevent crashes.
Called 'Signal People', they were out on each corner of this busy intersection of Pulaski and Rossville, hoping to get drivers attention about the need to slow down and give bicyclists space.
The goal is to draw attention to steps for preventing crashes, especially during the spring and summer when more people are out walking and biking.
The Baltimore region saw 7 bicyclist and 61 pedestrian fatalities in 2020.
"Letting drivers know to give bicyclists 3 foot space. That’s the law in Maryland. Pedestrians have to follow the rules, cross at the cross walk when possible," said Bala Akundi, the Principal Transportation Engineer for Baltimore Metropolitan Council. "The whole idea behind this campaign is to eliminate all serious crashes fatalities and injuries."
"What they are doing is really great because with traffic like this, there’s always just that one person speeding and you never know if they are going too fast," said pedestrian Joseph Carr.
Baltimore County Police have partnered for this event, picking this intersection because there’s a lot of traffic and there have been serious crashes there in the past.
They hope this more unconventional method slows people down and makes them think twice.
"This is great because it’s actually a physical person standing out there with a sign so when the folks are stopped at the intersection at the red lights, they are seeing these folks walk across the street in the cross walks with the sign to bring more awareness to the drivers that are out here," said Traffic Unit Officer Tyler Rivers.
This event wraps up their bike safety month campaign, but they will have a new one starting in the fall.
