Pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers beware! As we mentioned this morning, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ annual Street Smart Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Campaign kicked off yesterday. In addition to a flurry of ads on the radio, billboards, buses, and local papers, this campaign will also include a month of increased enforcement of traffic laws by local police.

We’re not sure which to be more worried about, the potential jaywalking tickets or the relentless march of Street Smart PSA’s, but color us cynical about this annual effort to get pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists to all play nice. We just don’t have much faith that anyone is thinking twice about jaywalking because of ads on WTOP.

We’ve said it before: consistent enforcement of basic traffic laws, by cop or by camera, is the best and most cost effective way to change people’s behavior. Yet, while a few ticketed pedestrians or a cyclist pulled over for speeding might make for a good local news item, it will hardly change the city’s transportation culture. If you have any doubt, just look at the ban on cell phone use while driving. It’s never enforced, and it’s always ignored.

Likewise with other traffic laws, the fact that police can only find time to enforce them for one month a year is troubling. If there is a need for increased traffic enforcement, and we think there is, it should be a year-round policy. If it was, we might even have the distinct honor of appearing on Prevention Magazine’s “Walkable Cities” list next year…

Photo courtesy MWCOG