Operation Best Foot Forward Promotes Pedestrian Safety Awareness in Memory of Road Traffic Victims

With pedestrian fatalities rising nationwide, the urgent need for safer roadways has never been more critical. In honor of World Day of Remembrance on November 17^th, the Best Foot Forward pedestrian safety program coordinated Operation Best Foot Forward, a two-week campaign across Central Florida that aims to reduce pedestrian injuries and deaths through awareness about Florida’s driver yield laws, which provide pedestrians the right-of-way at crosswalks.

This quarterly operation concluded last Friday, with 13 law enforcement agencies across Central Florida issuing 378 warnings and citations to drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians at 21 crosswalk locations across six Central Florida counties.

World Day of Remembrance recognizes the lives lost and forever changed due to traffic collisions. From January through August 2024, FDOT District 5 reported 394 pedestrians and cyclists severely injured or killed, with nearly 20% of these victims aged 65 and over. Over the past decade, 709 pedestrian and cyclist crashes occurred within one-quarter mile of crosswalks selected for evaluation by the Best Foot Forward program, informing the selection of enforcement locations during this operation.

During Operation Best Foot Forward, plainclothes officers and deputies cross streets at marked crosswalks, giving drivers enough time to slow down and stop safely. Drivers who do not stop as Florida law requires may be issued a minimum $164 citation and three (3) points on their license. These efforts align with FDOT’s Target Zero and MetroPlan Orlando’s Vision Zero initiatives, which aim to reduce traffic fatalities to zero.

In addition to coordinating with the Sheriff’s Offices from Marion, Orange, Seminole, and Volusia Counties, police departments from Apopka, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Indian Harbour Beach, Kissimmee, Oakland, Ocala, Orlando, and St. Cloud returned as participants in Operation Best Foot Forward.

Thank you to our news broadcast partners who brought visibility to the enforcement, with 46 news media placements reaching an estimated 813,000 viewers in Central Florida during the operation window to bring awareness to Florida’s laws. We’d also like to give a special shout out to elected officials who were able to attend a crosswalk enforcement in support, including Apopka Commissioner Nick Nesta, as well as partners and media from:

• Orlando Health
• HCA Healthcare
• Health First
• Florida Dept. of Health (Marion County)
• Ocala Marion TPO
• Orange County Government
• City of Kissimmee
• Positively Osceola
• WKMG 6 (CBS)
• WFTV 9 (ABC)
• Central Florida News 13
• Central Florida’s TV 27
• WOFL 35 (FOX)
• Telemundo 49

Additional pictures are available to view on our Operation Best Foot Forward Flickr album. To see the full enforcement schedule with an interactive map of the crosswalk locations, visit https://www.iyield4peds.org/operationbff/