 |
||
|
||
|
||
NEWS ARCHIVES
5/18/2004 6/3/2004 6/9/2004 6/9/2004 6/15/2004
7/29/2004 8/12/2004 9/30/2004 The County of Los Angeles and Cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena and West Covina join forces to focus on Pedestrian Safety via united bus shelter and bench ads Recognizing that traffic safety crosses jurisdictional boundaries, the County of Los Angeles and three cities in L.A. unite to deliver traffic safety messages on over 600 bus shelters and benches. The ads were made possible through the support of OTS, L.A. County, the participating cites, Norman Bench Advertising and Viacom Decaux. On 9/30/2004, the Florence Firestone Community Enhancement Team, in conjunction with the County Board of Supervisors, will unveil 70 ads for the Watch the Road program in the Florence Firestone Community. This effort is part of a larger effort by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works (LACoDPW) to place over 400 bus shelter ads throughout the county unincorporated area to raise public awareness in conjunction with their overall program on pedestrian safety and mobility. The ads will pop up next in East Los Angeles and then throughout the region. The 6:00 p.m. unveiling at Florence and Firestone will also have members of the local Chamber of Commerce, CHP and other community leaders in attendance. On the same day, the City of Los Angeles, through the generous support of Norman Bench Ads, will place 200 messages on bus benches citywide reminding bus patrons and others to "Look before you cross. Cars may not see you. Watch the Road." These catchy yellow and black signs pay tribute to the fact that although pedestrians are involved in only 7% of traffic collisions citywide, pedestrians tragically account for over 40% of traffic related fatalities! Additionally, through the generous support of Viacom Decaux, 100 bus shelter ads will sport the same message on bus shelters in the City of Los Angeles. The Cities of Pasadena and West Covina also took steps to highlight this public safety issue by placing five ads each in their city. Printing for the ads in these cities were all paid by a grant to the City of Los Angeles from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Click here to see sample ads AND E-mail us if your city can participate! Back to top
10/13/2004
10/30/2004 Toll Free: (866) 580-5280 12/9/2004 5/3/2005 The LA Dodgers are teaming up with the Watch the Road campaign to deliver traffic safety messages at their home games in the 2005 season. Ads promoting safe driving, walking and bicycling will be displayed on the Dodger Vision screen, and the announcer will remind fans about traffic safety before they depart and get back in their cars. The WTR campaign complements the LA Dodger's "Be A Good Neighbor" campaign. Additionally, the Dodgers will host a pre-game ceremony for the "WATCH THE ROAD" slogan contest on June 5th, 2005. Over 500 school children will participate in activities and a slogan contest related to traffic safety. At a 12:30 ceremony before the home game with the Milwaukee Brewers, WTR will recognize our supporters and announce the winners of the traffic safety slogan contest. Come and root for your school and, of course, the Dodgers! For the Dodgers 2005 schedule, click here 6/5/2005 For the complete article, click here (pdf). For awards pictures, click here. 3/22/2005 "How often do Angelenos run red lights? Do Los Angeles drivers
yield for pedestrians? Do LA pedestrians look both ways before crossing
the street?" These are some of the questions asked by AirTalk's
Larry Mantle. Dan Mitchell, transportation engineer and author of
a Los Angeles study on congestion, joins Larry to share some of
the early observations of this ongoing study about Angeleno's driving
habits. What are some of the bad driving behaviors that you have
noticed? Do you do any of them yourself? 3/3/2006 The Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Watch the
Road campaign is excited to be a co-sponsor of the upcoming LA Marathon,
which will take place on March 19, 2006. The Watch the Road campaign,
in partnership with Telemundo Channel 52, will be airing new public
service announcements that will be broadcast the day of the race.
In weeks prior to the marathon, Telemundo will also run short news
stories and other media coverage regarding the campaign with TV
personality “El Gordo” as the spokesman. A link has
also been posted to our Watch the Road website on the Telemundo
home page. As part of our partnerships with KROQ, KLAX and Telemundo
Ch. 52, they also will be managing booths at the Los Angeles Marathon
and be distributing our educational material 3/3/2006 Watch the Road will be broadcasting our public service announcements
on network television on KCBS Ch. 2 and KCAL Ch. 9. You will be
able to view these PSA’s during the upcoming NCAA Regional
Finals games on March 23-26, the NCAA Quarter-Final Championship
game on March 26, as well as morning and afternoon newscasts. Watch
the Road is also currently broadcasting these PSA’s on four
popular radio stations: KIIS 102.7, POWER 105.9, KROQ 106.7, and
in Spanish on KLAX 97.9. Also, KLAX and KCBS have posted a link
to the Watch the Road website on their websites. 3/3/2006 Watch the Road will be unveiling (2) two new messages in the beginning
of March: cell phone safety “It's your life on the line.”
and tailgating “Tailgating causes crashes. Back off.”
These new safety messages can be seen on hundreds of LADOT buses,
Santa Monica buses and on our changeable street message boards. 7/5/2006 Watch the Road is excited to be airing two new bilingual public
service announcements (PSA) in mid-June 2006. The two new PSA’s
address bad driver behavior and pedestrian safety. They are impactful,
cutting edge, and hard-hitting and we hope they will bring much
needed attention to this important issue and help change people’s
bad roadway behaviors in order to save lives.
7/5/2006
Power 106, LA’s #1 Hip-Hop and R & B radio station, is
having their annual summer Powerhouse concert at the Anaheim Pond.
Watch the Road is a proud sponsor of the concert and will be participating
in the day’s events by distributing our collateral material
and promoting safe roadway behaviors. In addition, there will be
a raffle of two bicycle cruisers at the concert to promote bicycle
safety. Please visit the Power 106 website by clicking
here for additional information regarding the concert or the
station. 8/20/2006 Once again Watch the Road is excited to be partnering up with Power
106, LA's #1 Hip-Hop and R&B radio station for another big event.
Watch the Road will be a proud sponsor of the 2nd annual Comedy
Fiesta to take place Sunday August 20th at the Verizon Wireless
Amphitheater. Some comedians scheduled to perform are Gabriel Iglesias,
Cheech Marin, Lisa Lampanelli, Kat Williams, and Mike Epps to name
a few. Watch the Road looks forward to reaching the large crowds
that are expected about the importance of traffic safety. For more
information regarding Comedy Fiesta or the station please visit
the Power 106 website by clicking
here. 9/15/2006 Telemundo Fiesta 16 On September 15-17, 2006 Telemundo
will be sponsoring "Fiestas Patrias," a celebration of
Mexico's Independence. This 3-day celebration will take place at
Salt Lake Park in the City of Huntington Park and will include food,
music, dancing, games and much more. Watch the Road is delighted
to be a sponsor of this exciting celebration. Please come out join
Watch the Road in promoting traffic safety during this weekend of
family fun. For more information please visit the Telemundo website
by clicking here.
Scenario #1 - Kids Playing with Soccer Ball: A group of young kids are playing with a soccer ball at the park. The ball is tossed into a nearby street. An 8-year old girl among the group runs into the street after the ball without looking for traffic. She is struck by a speeding car. Scenario #2 - Man Reflecting on Lifelong Driving Behavior: A man agonizes over hitting a little girl with his car. He reflects
on his driving behavior during three stages of his life -- as a
child peddling a big wheel, a teenager riding a bicycle and an adult
driving a car. Watch the Road is eager to continue spreading the message of the importance of traffic safety. Our fall line-up is filled with many exciting local events that we hope will get the word out and draw much needed attention to this important issue. One upcoming event that we are particularly proud to be a part of is the Safety & Kids Traffic Summit on October 17-19. During this summit professionals from all over will explore and offer new concepts, programs and ideas on how to solve traffic problems that cause the needless injuries and deaths of our children. WTR will share its findings regarding traffic safety in Los Angeles and the success and accomplishments of the campaign. In addition to its participation in these proactive community events, WTR has distributed an additional 700 free WTR lawn signs to all council offices in the City of Los Angeles. These free lawn signs, which state, “Watch for Kids. Watch the Road” are available free of charge to all residents of the City of Los Angeles, by simply contacting your local council office. For more information on our upcoming events, please visit our“Calendar”
section on our homepage. To request a copy of our public service announcements in order
to broadcast them, please visit the Request
Materials portion of our site. Participants will include commissioners, representatives from the
City Council office, Neighborhood Councils, City of Los Angeles
staff and other local stakeholders. Check the Top News portion of our site in mid-June in order to
find out more. 6/30/2007 Over 459 applications for infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects were received. Out of these, DOT was the only one selected for funding under this program. 09/30/2007 Please remember to watch for kids and watch the road, especially during the start of school, both in your neighborhood and throughout the City of Los Angeles.
08/04/2007 A kick-off press conference is scheduled for Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 10:00 A.M. at MTA Headquarters, located at One Gateway Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, CA.
03/11/2008 03/12/2008 03/13/2008 05/23/2008 06/13/2008 The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the Watch the Road program will launch a public awareness campaign alerting Angelinos to California’s two new cellular phone use laws. The laws, which take effect July 1, 2008, will force drivers to use hands-free mobile devices and will prohibit drivers under the age of 18 from using cell phones at all. The campaign is partnering with several transit agencies including LADOT and Big Blue Bus. Watch the Road will additionally run public service announcements on 10 radio stations, two televisionstations and several other media venues. To create more awareness, the campaign will also partner with the Los Angeles Police Department to create public awareness about the new laws. More detailed information about the laws can be found on the LAPD’s website, or through the California Highway Patrol’s fact sheet. Back to top 06/13/2008 The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Watch the Road, a traffic education and safety awareness program, are pleased to announce our campaign promoting public awareness of California's new cell phone driving laws. Two new laws limiting cell phone use while driving will change Californians' behavior when they take effect July 1. The first law will place restrictions on drivers age 18 and older; these drivers must replace hand-held cell phones with hands-free cell phones. The second law will curb the use of electronic devices by drivers younger than 18 entirely. Law enforcement will begin enforcing these laws July 1. For more information, please see our press release, fact sheet and safety tips. Back to top 06/16/2008 Watch the Road esta colaborando con el Departmento de Policia (LAPD) para mantener al publico informado sobre estas dos nuevas leyes. Para más información acerca de estas leyes, pueden visitar la página de California Highway Patrol al http://www.chp.ca.gov/pdf/media/cell_phone_esp_faq.pdf. Para crear mas conocimiento, la campaña (Watch the Road)
también se unirá con varias agencias de transito incluyendo
LADOT y Big Blue Bus. Adicionalmente, Watch the Road pondrá
anuncios de servicio al publico (PSA) en 10 estaciones de radio,
dos estaciones de televisión y otros numerosos medios de
comunicación.
10/31/2008 The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) and the Watch the Road Program wants to remind parents that Halloween is a good time to teach children about pedestrian and traffic safety. LADOT has issued simple guidelines that will help safeguard children on Halloween night and whenever they walk in their neighborhoods at night. Have a happy and safe Halloween from Watch the Road and LADOT!Back to top 3/1/2009 LADOT was awarded a Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS) grant intended to improve conditions for children to safely walk and bicycle to school. LADOT will adopt the highly successful Watch the Road traffic safety education campaign to educate children and residents about safety and how proper behavior can make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative. To encourage a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age, the program will promote pedestrian safety, healthy living, relieve traffic congestion and improve the quality of our air. To achieve these goals, the Watch the Road program will implement a Safe Routes to School program at six selected elementary schools. These pre-selected schools include, Canfield Elementary; Castle Heights Elementary, Clover Elementary, Overland Elementary, Palms Elementary and Sherman Oaks Elementary. Emphasizing education, encouragement, enforcement and engineering, Watch the Road seeks to create safe and long-lasting habits in children, while reducing the number of traffic-related injuries and fatalities. The California Department of Transportation recently awarded LADOT a Transportation Planning Grant i entitled" Environmental Justice: Context-Sensitive Planning --- Westlake Traffic Safety Plan and Program. The project funds will develop and disseminate a traffic plan and safety program that will improve the mobility access and safety needs of the Westlake Community. The program will adopt the city's Emmy award winning Watch the Road campaign, a traffic safety education program targeting bad behaviors that contributes to crashes.Back to top 1/15/2009 On Thursday January 15th 2009, 3rd District Councilman Jack Weiss partnered with Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Watch the Road in announcing the Safe Routes to School program. Seeking to raise awareness, the event was well attended by parents and members of the community. The program has been implemented at six schools which will receive a total of $499,000 to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety around the schools. Watch the Road would like to thank Principal Tamara Gullatt and Canfield Elementary School for hosting this event. Back to top 7/28/2009 West Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley cable viewers will soon be able to view Watch the Road’s two new Safe Routes to School public service announcements (PSAs). To be aired through Time Warner Cable beginning in September, the PSAs feature local schoolchildren to highlight the merits of a “walking school bus” and healthy eating. Both PSAs serve as instructional videos for parents, school officials and other stakeholders to initiate and sustain pedestrian safety programs at their children’s schools. The PSAs will air on many stations, including: ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, The Discovery Channel, The Food Network, TLC (The Learning Channel), Nickelodeon and TBS (Turner Broadcasting Service). Viewers can also watch these announcements in on-demand format, accessing them 24 hours a day. Viewers will be offered an option to request information about how to create a walking school bus and ideas to promote cycling to schools. Educational materials will be sent to those who request it, free of charge. More information about Safe Routes to School programs is available now at www.saferoutesinfo.org.
9/10/2009 This Safe Routes to School brochure outlines a proposed Watch the Road program for over 30 schools in the City of Los Angeles. It will be used as a tool to promote Safe Routes to School and pedestrian safety. Watch the Road is very excited to introduce this to the public and we hope to encourage more children to safely walk or bike to school.Back to top 9/10/2009 The Department of Transportation is pleased to announce that its traffic safety and education program, Watch the Road, has been nominated to receive a local Emmy award. Watch the Road gained the nomination in the 61st Annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards for its 30-second public service announcement, "Pedestrian Awareness." The PSA, which aired on local channels in 2008, strikingly highlighted safety awareness for pedestrians. Local Emmy winners will be announced August 29.
You can watch the PSA on our Facebook page. Watch the Road received a 2006 Emmy award in the Best Public Service Announcement category for a PSA promoting bicycle safety. Back to top 10/27/2009 Watch the Road and the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) wants to remind parents that Halloween is a great time to teach children about pedestrian and traffic safety. LADOT has issued simple guidelines that will help safeguard children on Halloween night and whenever they walk in their neighborhoods at night. 1. Adults should accompany children to make sure safety rules are followed. 2. Cross streets only at intersections and look both ways before crossing a street. 3. Walk within crosswalks. 4. Wear white or reflective clothing so that costumes are bright enough to be seen at night by motorists. 5. Add reflective tape to bags to collect treats. 6. Choose costumes that are flame-retardant. 7. Children should carry flashlights. 8. Walk in well-lit areas. 9. Remove any masks before crossing streets. 10. Look before crossing driveways to make sure vehicles are not backing up. 11. Never cross a street in the middle of the block or between parked vehicles. The best safety lesson parents can teach to their children is to model the correct pedestrian behavior. For more information, please see the press release. Back to top 11/20/2009 Underscoring the region’s distinction as one whose infrastructure favors vehicles over pedestrians, a study released last week ranked the Los Angeles metropolitan area’s percentage of pedestrian traffic deaths the third worst among the nation’s 52 largest metros. Of the Angelenos who died in traffic-related incidents in 2007, 27 percent were pedestrians – more than twice the national average, according to “Dangerous by Design: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths.” The study, conducted by Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, also ranked Los Angeles a troublesome No. 27 on its “Pedestrian Danger Index.” The index allows statistical comparison among the number of pedestrian deaths in cities of differing size and number of commuters who walk to work. The PDI rankings showed Los Angeles was less dangerous for pedestrians than California cities such as Riverside, Sacramento and San Jose, but more risky than San Diego and San Francisco. In addition to ranking areas by the PDI, the study canvassed spending on pedestrian- and bicycle-related projects. An examination of California found the state spends a slightly lower-than-average amount on projects that could make pedestrians and bicyclists safer. That trend was particularly prevalent in Los Angeles: Annually, it spent only $0.45 per person on pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure – 69 percent less than the national average of $1.46. The study recommended cities create walkable communities, adopting complete streets policies and mitigating the effects of arterial streets. It also credited the federal Safe Routes to Schools program for more than doubling to $1.8 billion the amount spent on sidewalks, crosswalks and bicycle paths. LADOT receives two grants under this program. Want to view the whole report? Go to: http://t4america.org/blog/2009/11/09/dangerous-by-design/. Back to top 12/3/2009
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Watch the Road program recently was awarded the 2009 International Marketing and Communications “Gold Award” for a public service announcement it recently produced in partnership with Time Warner Digital Advanced Advertising for the Safe Routes to School campaign. The award was given by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals and chosen from more than 5,000 entries. The award signifies the PSA’s attention to detail and creative achievement. Winning a “MarCom” Award gives recognition to the creative talent of the Department’s employees on outstanding marketing and communication projects. More information on these awards can be attained by going to www.marcomawards.com on the Winner's Info section. Back to top 12/18/2009
The Department of Transportation’s Watch the Road program and Time Warner Advanced Advertising won a second advertising industry award for the PSA campaign they produced for the Safe Routes to School program. The PSAs, featuring spots that promoted healthy eating and the use of “walking school buses,” took the highest award, a Platinum Award, from the 2009 Audio Video Association Awards. LADOT employees created the concepts and scripts behind these announcements while Time Warner creative workers filmed and produced them. Visit the Ava Platinum Award winners page for more details. Back to top 1/25/2010 The Office of Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilwoman Jan Perry and LAUSD will hold a press conference in conjunction with LADOT to initiate the Safe Routes to School program on February 11, 2010. The event will be held at 1:00 p.m. at Normandie Elementary School, 4505 Raymond Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90037. This will serve as the kick-off event to announce the partnership between LAUSD and LADOT, with involvement from LAPD and other public agencies, to improve pedestrian safety in school zones.Schools in South Los Angeles are excited about the Safe Routes to School grant program as it will substantially improve the ability of children to walk or ride their bike to school safely. The program will help children arrive alert, refreshed and ready to do well in school and at the same time fight childhood obesity by promoting healthy lifestyles. In addition, encouraging walking and bicycling reduces air pollution and traffic congestion near and around schools. View the program guide and program factsheet for more information.Back to top 2/11/2010 The Safe Routes To School Program press conference scheduled to take place Thursday, February 11, 2010 has been postponed and will be rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 25. The program is anticipated to promote healthy and safe habits among school-aged children. LADOT and the Los Angeles Unified School District, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Police Department and other partnering organizations, look forward to continuing the Safe Routes To School Program in South Los Angeles.View the program guide and program factsheet for more information. Back to top 3/8/2010 The Safe Routes To School Program is pleased to present the March 2010 edition of "Nutrition Nuggets," a newsletter for parents to help explore food and fitness for healthy children. Safe Routes to School helps educate children and parents about improved pedestrian and bicycle safety around schools. The program aims to increase the number of students who walk and bicycle to school.View the March 2010 Nutrition Nuggets newsletter. Back to top 4/16/2010 Watch the Road is participating in Earth Day Fair at Canfield Elementary School in Los Angeles on Monday, April 19, 2010. The fair will host activities for all grade levels, including workshops to explore pedestrian and bicycle safety, healthy eating and recycling. Rock climbing will also be offered. Watch the Road will supply more than 300 bicycle reflectors for participating students. The Watch the Road staff will be present throughout the day at the school to provide information to parents about its traffic safety and education program. The Safe Moves educational program will also be on-site, courtesy of LADOT. The event is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. Back to top 4/28/2010 Watch the Road visited Castle Heights Elementary School for Earth Day, on Friday, April 23. There was a school-wide assembly to promote the Safe Routes to School program; the assembly included a presentation by German Professional Cyclist Christian Klugmann. The school unveiled new bike racks, courtesy of the Safe Routes to School program, to accommodate an additional 24 bicycles. Bicycle safety booklets and bicycle reflectors were distributed to students. My Safe L.A. attended the event and shot footage of students walking and bicycling to school for an upcoming city-wide safety documentary. Back to top 5/13/2010 The Safe Routes To School Program is pleased to present the April and May 2010 editions of "Nutrition Nuggets," a newsletter for parents to help explore food and fitness for healthy children. By promoting active lifestyles for children, “Nuggets” support the program’s goals to increase the number of students walking and bicycling to school. “Nutritional Nuggets” will return in September, after taking a summer break. View PDF versions of the monthly editions: Back to top 5/27/2010 Watch the Road and its partnering agency, the California Highway Patrol, urge you to take caution on the road this holiday weekend: Don’t forget to buckle up! According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 38 people who are not buckled up are killed in motor vehicle crashes each day. Teens, young adults, men and nighttime riders are least likely to buckle up. Fines for failing to buckle up have increased to $142 for first-time offenders in California. For children under 16, the penalty can reach $445. Keep your family safe on the road. Day or night, don’t forget: Watch the Road! To learn more about the state and national "Click It or Ticket" campaigns, visit the California Highway Patrol or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Back to top Safe Routes to School Program airing public service announcements during World Cup The Safe Routes to School program is airing two of its public service announcements, from June 10 to July 9, on Time Warner Cable during daytime broadcasts of the World Cup Soccer Series. The PSAs will be broadcast in Time Warner’s Central Los Angeles, Hollywood and West Los Angeles areas on the Galavision channel over a period of five weeks. Safe Routes to School is a federally funded educational program that seeks to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety around schools. One of the program's goals is increasing the number of students who walk and bicycle to school. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program, which developed the public service announcements along with Time Warner Cable, has been exceptionally successful in promoting its safety messages through Time Warner’s Video on Demand channel. The Department invites you to join more than 1,000 others who have accessed the VOD channel and requested more information about Safe Routes to School. Program information is available online for the Safe Routes to School program guide and the Kidsteps pedestrian safety brochure. A safety message from the Department of Transportation's Watch the Road campaign is also available in poster format in English and Spanish. Back to top Back to top
|