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Healthy Streets Conference a Big Draw

Northwest Chicago Drive With Care was launched last month with a morning of workshops at the fourth annual Healthy Streets Conference. Co-hosting the kick-off event were Aldermen Ariel Reboyras, Thomas Allen and Margaret Laurino.

The Drive With Care initiative aims to reduce automobile crashes by 50 percent in a 10-square-mile section of Chicago’s Northwest Side. Funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation, the effort is administered by the Healthy Streets Campaign in partnership with the Chicago Department of Transportation, Office of Emergency Management and Communications, Chicago Police and city council members whose ward boundaries fall within the service zone.

“The three alderman, Reboyras, Allen and Laurino, really set the tone for the conference,” said Healthy Streets Campaign Coordinator Randy Neufeld. “Having them discuss problem resources and traffic safety really draws the attention it should from the city police and community.”

Ruby Des Jardins, social marketing coordinator at the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation said that the larger-than-expected turnout was “really proof that people are concerned about the violence of traffic crashes in their city and, specifically, their neighborhoods.”

Participants were divided into work groups to brainstorm about opportunities for each of the three elements of the Drive With Care initiative: engineering and design, social marketing and targeted enforcement. “The level of intelligent, creative, forward thinking ideas we were able to capture from the crowd is going to be an incredible jumping off point for our still-forming steering committee,” Des Jardins said.

Police officers from four Chicago districts and members of Mayor Daley’sBicycle Ambassadors were also among the attendees. “There were a lot of suggestions. People were really focused on what they could do to help. There weren’t just people from inside the zone, there were people from outside as well,” Neufeld said.

Among those outside the zone was Jim Gannon, deputy chief of the Homewood Police Department. “I took back that street designs, indication timing, and road markings are small but great acts of improving the quality of life of pedestrians and cyclists,” Gannon said.

Gannon likened the effort against dangerous driving to “David and Goliath.”
“It is a big problem and few people get involved. I give the Healthy Streets Conference a tremendous handshake because biking is paramount for all of us. If we can calm our street and improve visibility by allowing cars and bikes have their own avenue, we can all get along,” Gannon said.

Neufeld said he is excited as preparations for next year’s conference are already underway as new ideas continue to unfold. “Chicago municipalities and organizations want to work on multi-disciplinary crash reduction efforts that focus on street decision marketing,” he said. The fifth annual Healthy Streets Conference in 2008 will dig deeper into changing motorist behavior.