Area crosswalks experience ripple effect from Operation Best Foot Forward

Operation Best Foot Forward’s positive efforts are having a ripple effect – on drivers and it shows at area crosswalks.

In Orange County, we saw yield rates improve at crosswalks – that were not part of the police enforcement, but were within close proximity of a couple of the targeted crosswalks. For example, the yield rate at Woodbury Road and Mallory Circle jumped from 25 percent to 39.8 percent and Landstar Boulevard and Brook Hollow Drive increased from 11.2 percent to 14 percent.

Although both of the crosswalks were not targeted as part of the February enforcement, neighboring crosswalks at Waterford Lakes Park and Coquina Rock Circle and Landstar Boulevard and Misley Drive were. This shows that drivers are taking notice and using caution.

More good news in the City of Orlando, are the increased yield rates at four of the enforced crosswalks. A few crosswalks with the most impressive increases were Lake Underhill Road and Palmer Street, which jumped from 46.8 percent to 56 percent; Edgewater Drive and Shady Lane, which increased from 25.8 percent to 29.4 percent; and Lee Vista Boulevard and Odyssey Middle School, which started with a very low yield rate of 0.4 percent to 5.9 percent.

Operation Best Foot Forward received coverage from six TV stations, two radio stations and four digital print outlets equaling $180,000 in media coverage value and engaging 257,000 pro-ped people through BFF’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Local motorists got the message too with the 114 citations– a fine of $164 or 3 points to their driver’s license – and 78 warnings from the Orlando Police Department (OPD) and Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OSCO) for failing to yield to a ped crossing in a marked crosswalk as Florida statue requires.