The Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s “Look Alive” campaign took to the streets of Annapolis Oct. 5 to educate drivers and pedestrians on the importance of roadway safety.

The campaign deployed five “signal people” to perform an interactive campaign by walking the crosswalks of the four-way Forest Drive and Hillsmere Drive intersection, reminding drivers and walkers to obey traffic signs that are meant to keep them safe.

The Baltimore Metropolitan Council, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Administration Highway Safety Office, launched the program in 2019 to raise awareness and educate drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists on how to be safe on Maryland roads, particularly those in Baltimore City and its surrounding counties.

Last year, despite an 11% decrease in pedestrian fatalities from 2021 to 2022, pedestrians still made up a disproportionate number of total traffic fatalities in the Baltimore region, Look Alive data shows.

While only 2.6% of traffic crashes in the region last year involved pedestrians, the group accounted for 26% of traffic deaths during the same time period. In Anne Arundel County, there were 13 pedestrian fatalities in 2022, up from five in 2021. So far this year, Annapolis has had 38 pedestrian or cyclist and vehicle collisions resulting in four fatalities and 28 injuries.

“Within the last couple of years, I have observed [that] the numbers of pedestrian-involved crashes have increased. The at-fault isn’t necessarily always the vehicle, it kind of goes back and forth. So, our purpose of being out here is to educate the public in general so when you are driving your vehicle or when you’re walking along the roadways, we can learn to share the road,” said Daniel Dekowsky, an officer from the Annapolis Police Department who frequently handles traffic-related incidents.

The campaign took place at noon at the corner of Forest and Hillsmere drives next to the Bay Ridge Marketplace Shopping Center due to its visibility and high traffic count, said Mitchelle Stevenson, spokesperson for the city.

Markus Moore, director of transportation in Annapolis, advised that drivers reduce their speed, especially around school zones as fall approaches due to slippery conditions that may affect a vehicle’s ability to break in time for a pedestrian who is crossing.

The campaign integrates several components, including TV and outdoor advertising. In 2020, LookAlive started to integrate more contactless ways to educate the public on the practice of roadway safety.

In various places throughout the state, including Anne Arundel County, the campaign has deployed signal people, who also carry mobile billboards on their backs conveying key tips: Slow down and obey the speed limit, wait for the walk signal to cross the street at crosswalks, and use the push buttons when they are available.

They are dressed in white jumpsuits that are similar to the pedestrian walk signal. Periodically, the signal people will walk across the crosswalk to practice the tips they are trying to spread.

“Our focus groups loved Signal Woman [the campaign’s mascot] so that’s how we came up with the idea,” said Cynthia Burch, transportation planner for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

Signal people was an idea that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to raise awareness about traffic safety during a time when in-person contact was limited.

“It’s not just handing out a brochure that someone might throw away later, it’s trying to be as interactive as we can,” she said.