On Monday, June 10, Macon-Bibb County’s Pedestrian Safety Review Board (PSRB) held a Pedestrian Summit at the Bibb Professional Learning Center. It was the second Summit held by the PSRB in its efforts to make roadways safer.  

“We want to continue exploring ways to make our roadways safer for everyone, and part of that is getting input from the public,” said Greg Brown, PSRB Chair. “This also gives us the chance to let people know what steps we’ve already taken the past few years based on their feedback and our own research.” 

Representatives from our Engineering Department, Bike Walk Macon, and other organizations attended the meeting, as well as PSRB members. The board meets monthly to discuss policy and legislation, public communication, engineering, enforcement, and interagency coordination. 

“We have established a great working relationship with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to look at Gray Highway and other state roads that are a problem, to see what we can do in those areas,” said Brown. 

“My job is to educate people about designs that can improve safety without having the typical approach that we expect,” said Traffic Safety Manager Weston Stroud. “Typically, we may expect bigger, wider roads when we have traffic issues, but with more understanding and more education we learn that better design is a way we can save people’s lives.”  

In the previous years, the PSRB has been an advocate for more work to be done about safety, and that has led to the hiring of a Traffic Safety Manager, dedicated funding for infrastructure improvements, lower speeds, traffic calming devices in neighborhoods, working with the Georgia Department of Transportation on its Gray Highway project, outreach to pedestrians, and more. 

“The safety of our friends, family, and neighbors is our top priority, and we’re working to have zero deaths along our roads by 2040,” adds Brown.