It's Up to Us: California's Public Education Campaign to Reduce Pedestrian Injury and Fatality

California saw more than 13,000 pedestrians killed or injured in 2009, which is 58%more than the national average. As government and community efforts stress increased physical activity in the wake of climbing obesity rates, and as people become more active, and walk more, they are confronted with the need to do so safely. The “It's Up to All of Us” public education campaign has been born against this backdrop, providing low-cost, creative media templates and training module to educate and influence Californians. To implement this campaign, the California Department of Public Health, PedSafe Program has been conducting jurisdictional trainings throughout California, based on the PedSafe Workbook, Communication for Pedestrian Safety: Risk, Response and Change. The trainings target representatives from traffic planning, engineering, law enforcement, education, public health, advocacy, and policy. The trainings demonstrate skills, tools, and knowledge to develop pedestrian safety programs based on the jurisdiction's challenges and strengths, yet reflective of norm change concepts and the integration of evidence-based risk communication planning. As applied to pedestrian safety, risk communication planning provides jurisdictions the ability to respond effectively to pedestrian collisions by utilizing an opportunity when the community's awareness is heightened and more likely to hear and internalize an educational message. In addition to providing an expanded skill set for professionals working in pedestrian safety, It's Up to All of Us campaign media templates provide California with a consistent and coordinated message, aimed at impacting driver and pedestrian behavior, shifting traffic safety norms, while also building a multi-agency partnership statewide.