Pedestrian Safety Posters

The Chicago Pedestrian Safety campaign includes a series of graphically compelling posters displayed throughout Chicago. These posters remind drivers and pedestrians to use caution and be alert when traveling around the city. Currently, these posters are displayed throughout the central businesses district on the sides of solar trash bins and on CTA bus backs.
Print quality, high resolution versions of these posters are available for download on the 'Campaign Resources' page.

On October 25, 2011, the Chicago Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Chicago Police Department and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, launched a citywide pedestrian safety campaign aimed at reducing pedestrian crashes and fatalities.

The campaign kicked off with an installation of 32 mannequins along Wacker Drive, each one representing one of the 32 pedestrians killed in Chicago crashes in 2010.

“Pedestrians are the most vulnerable users of the public way,” said CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein. “This campaign is specifically designed to change the behaviors that lead to pedestrian crashes.”

Klein was joined by representatives of the Chicago Police Department, IDOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which provided funding for the campaign. In addition to the Wacker Drive installation, the campaign will include: awareness messages on street furniture (bus shelters, info panels, trash receptacles, etc.) and direct outreach to schools, senior facilities, and taxi drivers. CDOT will also install small crossing flags at key neighborhood locations, and stencilling pedestrian safety messages on sidewalks in high traffic areas around the city.

CDOT and the Chicago Police Department will also continue their successful crosswalk-enforcement initiatives, aimed at getting more drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.

“Chicago deserves kudos for its highly creative campaign to raise awareness of pedestrian safety,” said Administrator David Strickland of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “All over America, local jurisdictions are launching innovative initiatives to protect pedestrians, including stepped-up enforcement and improvements to roadway infrastructures. NHTSA strongly supports these vitally important measures.”

In 2010, there were just under 3,000 crashes involving pedestrians. While pedestrian injuries and fatalities in Chicago have declined in the last several years, the city is committed to making Chicago the safest in the country, Klein said. Klein said CDOT’s goal is to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities to zero by 2020.

This campaign and the coordinated enforcements are one of several efforts to improve safety and are based on a recent Pedestrian Crash Analysis released by CDOT. The analysis informed the messaging of this campaign and is being utilized in the development of the Chicago Pedestrian Plan (www.chicagopedestrianplan.org) and ongoing infrastructure improvements throughout the city.

The campaign and the enforcements are funded by a grant awarded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA awarded funds to three state agencies and the City of Chicago to promote coordinated pedestrian safety education and enforcement efforts around the country.