Pedestrian Safety, Teens Ages 15 to 19 Years

What can I do to keep my teen safe as a pedestrian?

  • Be a positive role model and set an example for safe pedestrian behavior. Children and young adults learn by watching parents.
  • When dropping teens off from a vehicle, make sure they exit the vehicle on the right hand side onto the sidewalk or shoulder.

What should my teen do to be a safe pedestrian?

Teens should follow the following rules of the road:

  • Obey all traffic signs and signals
  • Stop, and look left, right and left again before entering a roadway
  • Never run into the street; always cross at the crosswalk or corner. When crossing at an intersection, pedestrians should check for vehicles turning the corner.
  • Always walk on the sidewalk. If there are no sidewalks, pedestrians should walk facing traffic.
  • Make eye contact with drivers of stopped vehicles to be sure they are aware that you are crossing the street.

What types of safety features do pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods have?

  • Sidewalks
  • Physical barriers to separate pedestrians from the roadway (such as wide shoulders and strips of landscaping between the road and sidewalk)
  • "Traffic calming measures" (such as median barriers or speed humps)
  • Crossing guards and speed enforcement in school zones

What can my teen wear to be safer as a pedestrian?

  • Children should wear bright colored clothing or retro-reflective material designed to make pedestrians more visible.
  • Bright or retro-reflective material is especially important if children are walking at dusk or at night.

Where can I find more information?