Past Programming

By engaging students in the engineering behind our infrastructure and the impact of safer roads, speeds, and vehicles (objectives of the safe systems approach), BEST has worked towards reducing the number of pedestrian and bicycle injuries in the District, by creating safety-informed citizens! This program improved safety culture among high school students in the DC area through three main objectives:

• In June 2024, BEST partnered with high schools classrooms and led lab-based transportation safety activities to teach bicycle and pedestrian safety concepts resulting in safer behavior for students near roadways. This directly impacted five high school teachers and 125 students who participate in the transportation engineering activities in their STEM classes led by CUA faculty. The BEST team conducted activities over a total of 14 class periods. The team attended Dunbar High School for two days for in-class lessons and impacted 50 students (NAF Academy of Engineering classrooms of 9th,10th, and 11th graders). The team attended Anacostia High School for one day of in-class lessons and impacted 15 students (CTE classroooms of 10th and 11th graders). The team attended Roosevelt High School for two days of in-class lessons and impacted 60 students (10th grade math classroom). Participants received a branded high-visibility vest which will increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Classroom activities will lead students and teachers to a greater understanding of the impact of safe transportation behavior and design. A pre and post survey measuring attitudes towards traffic safety was conducted. 

• In July 2024, BEST created and hosted a two-day workshop for high school students on safer transportation design where 10 motivated students learned, designed, and implemented a temporary intersection treatment resulting in improved safety for the participants. Students shared workshop outcomes to a panel of professionals. Workshop activities will lead students and teachers to a greater understanding of safe transportation design and engineering. A pre and post survey measuring attitudes towards traffic safety was conducted.

• In September 2024, BEST led a Walk Audit Bingo activity at WABA’s DC Youth Traffic Safety Town Hall. At this event, students received safety vests. Additionally, the PI partnered with Seasoned Settlers to distribute safety vests to students at the Art All Night event in September. 

MEASURED IMPACT

An online survey was distributed to high school students before and after the in-classroom programming and workshops. Students were given five minutes to complete the survey on their phones by scanning a QR code while transportation-themed songs played. Survey response was limited as survey completion was optional; 62 students completed the pre-programming survey and 19 completed the post-programming survey. Survey questions were developed to understand student perceptions of traffic safety and collect feedback from the program. The survey was written in English but two responses were received in Spanish. 

When asked “What does traffic safety mean to you?” before engaging with BEST programming, students primarily focused on individual safety, such as "traveling safely" or "getting across the street". Many responses emphasized obeying traffic laws, such as "following the rules" and "drive slow and carefully." A focus on drivers' actions and responsibilities was prevalent. A recurring theme was minimizing accidents, with mentions of "avoiding accidents" and "no fatal accidents”. Some responses touched on broader considerations, like the safety of neighborhoods or infrastructure improvements to ensure smoother traffic flow. A few responses were vague or dismissive, such as "nothing really" or "nothing."

When asked “What does traffic safety mean to you?” after engaging with BEST programming, students shared a more inclusive understanding of safety, with mentions of all road users (pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and even animals). Responses like "safety for all people and vehicles" and "ensuring everyone is safe on and off the road" show this broadened perspective. Participants express an understanding of systemic traffic safety, mentioning infrastructure and community-level changes, such as "eliminating unsafe conditions" and "capitalizing on infrastructure that encourages safety”. There was an emphasis on mutual efforts, with responses like "a mutual agreement...that guarantees safety" and "people respecting the laws and regulations of traffic”. Strong language regarding accident prevention persisted in responses, with terms like "life and death" and "no accidents." Post-responses included more specific safety practices, such as "wearing a seatbelt" and "not driving when the light is red”.

Students were asked to rate the perceived dangers of different driving behaviors. There was no statistically significant difference between the pre and post survey responses due to limited data but there was a slight increase in danger perception of driving behaviors between the pre and post BEST programming interventions.  Before the BEST programming, more than half of the students rated “Driving through a light that had just turned red when they could have stopped safely”, “Driving while reading a text or an email on a cell phone”, and “Driving without wearing a seatbelt” as extremely dangerous. After the BEST programming, more than half of the students additionally rated “Wearing dark clothing while walking / biking at night”, “Driving while holding and talking on a cell phone”, and “Drivers speeding 10 mph over the speed limit on residential streets (neighborhood)” as extremely dangerous. The largest shift occurred in students' perception of danger while “Wearing dark clothing while walking / biking at night” as seen in Figure 4. This is likely due to the class discussions of sight distances. 

LESSONS LEARNED

The post programming survey ended by asking for participant feedback. As the survey included responses in Spanish, a noted future improvement for the program includes translating materials to Spanish and other languages.

For the in-class programming, students enjoyed engaging with a university professor and engineering undergraduate students. Beyond talking about traffic safety, they talked about going to college, staying involved in the community, and future plans. They were very engaged when testing reaction time and walking speeds with different personas (e.g. testing reaction time when “distracted” on tik tok or walking like a “baby” with tiny steps). This gave students a chance to get up out of their seats and be a bit goofy. They also liked the “Spot the Problem” activity where they were given an illustrated street and had to reimagine it. 

Classroom activities were limited to be completed in the classroom as we were unable to get permission to walk around the school to conduct a walk audit activity during class-time. Additional in-classroom staff / teacher assistance would be welcomed for future programming. Scheduling classroom visits for the end of the year was difficult as students were excited for the year to end and end-of-school activities interrupted the scheduled classroom visits (e.g. the last day of Roosevelt High School programming was canceled due to a field day and the last 20 minutes of an activity at Dunbar High School was interrupted by a fire drill). 

For the workshop programming, students enjoyed redesigning a real intersection and sharing their work in a "public meeting"-style. They also enjoyed the Chinatown Vision Zero walk as it was a chance to see traffic calming in action. The walk was cut short by a few blocks and stops (around 10-minutes) due to heat. Future programs should schedule outdoor activities in the morning to avoid the heat.