Watch the Road...

So, citizenofthemonth.com has a post about the Watch the Road Banners on poles on Venice Boulevard (among other streets in L.A.) today. It was picked up by the LA Observed Nerd, and now it's a big deal.

Well, it seems to have worked. The goal of the "Watch the Road" campaign - to educate drivers to make them safer drivers -is catching people's attention. Motorists might have missed the giant graphics on the reader screens at Hollywood & Highland or on the bus benches & buses, but people are now noticing and talking about the 2-year-old traffic safety campaign that is sponsored by the City, County, and a litany of others. Originally chaired by Mayor Hahn, the campaign now has Villaraigosa joining Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky as co-chair of this countywide initiative that is focused primarily in the City. The Steering Committee - the ones who direct the campaign with the giraffesque banners that have raised questions - are the Automobile Club of Southern California, the California Department of Transpotation, the CHP, LADOT, Metro, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, and the Southern California Association of Governments.

One good thing, though, that comes from the campaign (if you think the banners are misplaced & ineffective) is that they definitively tell us the "Top Ten Behaviors that Contribute to Crashes":

Driving too fast for conditions (speeding)
Aggressive driving
Inattentive driving (e.g., cell phone)
Driving, cycling or running through red traffic lights
Driving under the influence (DUI)
Not yielding to pedestrians
Walking without looking
Walking outside crosswalks
Bicycling against traffic
Not buckling up!

Finally, I'd like to point out that there are about a dozen messages that have been used to address the ten behaviors above, but my favorite one is this one: