 pedestrian safety month in Hawaii. Did you know that Hawaii was the first state in the nation to have a pedestrian safety month? California adopted the month several years after Hawaii and in 2020, the Federal Department of Transportation adopted a national pedestrian month each October. I have Lance Ray, the creator of Hawaii's pedestrian safety month here with us. Aloha and welcome, Lance. Aloha, Wendy. I have a question for you. Are you a good pedestrian? I am the best pedestrian. You are? And I make sure that I advocate for that because I want everyone to follow me. That's when I saw you at the park the other day. I said, I'll be your best, your best advocate because I promote it, I walk it, I live it, and I want everyone to be more aware of their value of their lives. And it's all up to us, pedestrians, of course, up to the drivers as well. But yes, then I am a great pedestrian. That's excellent. Well, you know, Walk Wise Hawaii is part of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation's pedestrian safety education campaign. So we are the educators of pedestrian safety for the state. So, you know, we have our engineers who create our roadways, you know, we have our police officers who enforce the rules, but our job at Walk Wise Hawaii is to educate the public and make people better pedestrians. So I'm going to have you raise your right hand and repeat after me to take a critical poem of our thing. Repeat after me with the Walk Wise White Bledge. I pledge. I pledge. As a good pedestrian. As a good pedestrian. To always look left. To always look left. To always look right. And always look right. To always look left again. And then I look left again. And keep looking. And keep looking. While crossing the street. While crossing the street. That's the main element for our campaign. We're reaching out to kids. We're reaching out to the general public and our kupuna. You know, who are the most vulnerable when we're crossing the street. Right. And I'm all of the above. I'm a kid. I'm a kupuna and I'm a pedestrian. Yeah, maybe a kupuna. Maybe a kupuna chronologically, but not in faith. You are not. You're so kind. I would not see you at the Lana Key List in your center. I don't think so. I've been there and I've been making lays for the last Memorial Day. We were there. Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. Yes, sir. Wherever. And I teach kupuna classes as well. But yes, kupuna at heart. Love the kupuna and we need to. It's no longer May, but it is August, which is pedestrian safety month. And I'm so happy that you have me here. I'm so happy we bumped into each other. Yeah. So pedestrian safety month has been around for about 14 years for us. And we make sure that during pedestrian safety month, we have a public event, one or two happening every day of the month throughout the state of Hawaii. So this time, not just the Wahoo. It's Maui County. It's Hawaii County. It's Kauai. We are seeing our fatalities across the board, even though the majority happen in the urban core of Honolulu, our program is statewide. And we want to make sure that it has access to education and access to pedestrian safety items that can make them safe on the crossroad street. And Lance, when did you create pedestrian safety month? And how has it been received? Well, I have to tell you something, you know, 14 years ago, you know, when we, well, we created the walkways wide campaign for the state about 20 years ago. And I thought we should have a month, you know, there's a month for everything. There's a bicycle safety month, you know, there's cancer awareness month. So I went online to Google it. I couldn't find a pedestrian safety month anywhere, maybe a week in Seattle, maybe in some other town, but no complete month that was devoted to pedestrian safety. And even though our campaign is year round, you know, it's always nice to have a month that's important. And we, we chose August because it's the beginning of the school year at the beginning of the month, you have all the young Kiki going back to school, traffic patterns are changing, you know, and then as we get to the end of the month, we have all our university students getting back, you know, and traffic is getting even more exciting. So it's a good month for us to do pedestrian safety month, even though the national government who follows our lead does it in October, Hawaii, we continue to do it in August because that's an important time for us. Most practical sense, get the Kiki from the very beginning, you know, just like the first day of school, write your name on the left hand, date on the right side, right? So now when you go to school, look to the left, look to the right, look to the left again, and then cross. And one step further, you know, when you go like to Asia, they have it written on all corners. Yeah. Because we look differently because they drive on the different side of the street. So they were reminding pedestrians always by painting it on every street corner, they tell you to look to the right and then the left and then the right, it's a reverse. You know, you were correct. I was just in London and it was exact, it's all painted out there for all of us foreigners in London. But an interesting thing, I was in Germany and Switzerland and all of the pedestrian safety signs for the man crossing the street, he was wearing a hat, which I thought was interesting. Only in Europe, all the pedestrians wear a hat. So I felt very comfortable there. Yeah. Wow. Wow, that's amazing. So what is the current pedestrian situation here in Hawaii? Yeah. So so far in 2023, unofficially, you know, because we have to wait till the end of the year for the stats, we've had 12 pedestrian fatalities across the state, you know, in each of our counties. The interesting information was seven of those pedestrian crashes, those crash fatalities were members of the homeless, houseless community. It's very rare for us to have that large percentage of our pedestrian crash fatalities be members of the homeless community. And that's something we really are kind of pushing for this month to start is to reach out to our homeless community and educate them. You know, it's a different way of educating them. You know, they're always migrating. You know, many of them are not safe when they're living across the roadways. Many of them, maybe their minds are not stable to kind of understand safety. You know, so we're working with the state is working with the city and counties in each county to figure out how we can educate the public. So right now during pedestrian safety month, I'm giving out these bands, these bands here, and the lights that you're like wearing here, yeah, we're going to make sure that the homeless put these on their shopping carts, you know, if they have a wheelchair or crutches or their carts, just to make sure something is going to turn on here is blinking, right? So people can go the roadway. Yeah, we want to make sure that they're safe. So that's our first step and we'll be at like places like IHS and kind of talk to them and see how they're doing. But what's been interesting is when you go to the homeless or houses community, they have their influencers, you know, you have sort of your ring leaders, you know, your sort of social butterflies there that are one that you really want to connect with, you know, and once you get a buy-in from them, they'll make sure everyone in their homeless camp is visible. So that's kind of our challenges for pedestrian safety month, kind of an unusual outreach program for us, but we are enjoying it so far. Wow. You know, you make this whole situation so exciting. And that's what I loved about this, the energy that you're putting into it is going to be contagious and that's what we want. So you are the absolute right guy for this campaign. And if ever I wanted to work for the city or the state, this is a job that I would love to do. So I would love to volunteer alongside with you. Oh, thank you. Yeah, well, we're really, really lucky, you know, because it's not just the DOT, you know, we've got our partners with the police department's force for all four county police departments, also the Department of Transportation Services, Department of Health, you know, all of our public resources are there to help us out. And plus our private partners, too. And so how are senior pedestrians doing? Well, okay, so I'm going to tell you this. So, you know, 20 years ago, you know, senior crash fatalities, pedestrian crash fatalities were like at 60 or 70 percent, you know, when we look at the stats now, and I want to preface that, you know, seniors are the most vulnerable. Okay, so they're the ones that are most likely not going to survive being hit by a vehicle, right? So we really have to worry about that. But as a group, 65 year and older, they have actually been doing better than the rest of us, you know. So whereas 20 years ago, they would represent 60 or 70 percent of the pedestrian fatalities today. And I would say for the past maybe 14 or 15 years, with the exception of one year or maybe two, there are about 33 and a third percent of the pedestrian crashes, you know, of the pedestrian fatalities, right? So that means if the senior numbers are going down, what's happening, you know, our numbers are still here, right at 12. So and we're seeing younger people getting hit. And as we can see now, it's the homeless population, you know, and we're seeing the younger, you know, we're seeing younger people getting hit, you know, because they're the most distracted. You know, our senior population, they're not on their cell phones, you know, they're paying attention crossing the street. But we have a lot of younger people that are not. Right. You know, that's why I told you that's why I get so excited, because I'm the gal that goes to the crosswalk. And this I look left, I look right, I look left, but then I look right at the driver and they stop. I cross and I shock at them. I'm a hollow them. And then I walk. So I acknowledge him and I want people to see me doing that. So I exaggerate it so that people will do the same. And even the driver sees me when he becomes a pedestrian, he does the same thing. Because that's the whole idea. People are thinking, oh, I'm the pedestrian. So I'm going to walk the car will see me sometimes not. And so that's why I'm, I'm an advocate. I'm your best person because I've been reaching this to everybody who sits in my car everywhere I go. And when I'm a pedestrian, as you said, I took the hold. But before that, I was already doing it. So, you know, but you're, but you're remembering the kids that little kids, you know, elementary school students are the best pedestrians, you know, they pay attention. They know not to run across the street. They know to cross or crosswalk. But, you know, by the time you get to middle school, you know, you kind of forget things. You don't follow stuff. And, you know, as parents, some parents are bad examples, you know, they jaywalk, you know, and so as kids get older, when they get to that sort of high school age, right, some of the kids have kind of forgotten being a good pedestrian, you know, and that's the that's the next thing we have to worry about, you know, is because those kids, you know, those kids are going to be drivers one day, right? You know, a kid today in a decade is driving that car, you know, and speeding. Yes, we have to really be good examples and you're perfect. You know, we need more of you walking across the street and make sure we duplicate what you're preaching, you know, and what you're doing and advocating for. It's quite important because the numbers are going a little bit too crazy right now going on on those streets, and it really burdens my heart. So that's why I'm going to be exactly right by your side, promoting the message that you guys worked hard to put together. So I know you touched about upon the homeless community. So what are you doing to address the homeless pedestrian situation? We all know sometimes they just walk right in front of you and we all stop and wait and they're just there. And what do we do? What are you doing to address that? Okay, so let's, you know, as I said earlier, you know, us at Walkwise, why we're reaching out into the homeless community to make sure they're visible, right? Because the majority of traffic crashes, you know, for pedestrians occur between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. when visibility is low, right? So we need to be bright and reflective, right? Like what you're wearing, your yellow outfit, I'm wearing my best. You know, our homeless community doesn't have access to these items. So we are giving them out to them, right? To make them more visible so drivers can see them. However, you know, the, as drivers, you know, we need to pay, we need to look out for our vulnerable users of the roadway. We need to look out when we're driving on Nimitz Highway or, you know, sometimes Kalaniani-Oli that way or Farrington Highway. You know, we have to understand there's going to be homeless people crossing the street. And so we need to slow down and look for them, you know, because some of our homeless or houseless, you know, their minds are not there, you know, we don't know why they're crossing the street, you know, they don't know to use a crosswalk, you know. So as drivers, we need to really slow down, especially at night time, you know, and not be in a rush, you know, and be aware of where our homeless communities are residing, you know, and make sure that when we go to that zone, think of it as a school zone, you know, we slow down at an elementary school, you know, maybe we need to slow down when there's a homeless community there, you know, and look out for them, you know, just like we look out for children, you know. Right. I mean, those are all good pointers and we just really need to learn them, understand them, and then practice them. And so by you running the campaign and making it more obvious to more people, because like you said, some people just don't know. Some drivers are not pedestrians, they've never walked on a street. That's true. You mentioned that to me, that was a great point that you brought up. Yeah, there's a lot of people that live in the suburbs, you know, or they live Kapolei side or Hawaii guy side, and they're never a pedestrian in the urban core. You know, they just drive from the town, they get in a parking garage, maybe they cross the street when they go down. Maybe. But, you know, but they don't know what it's like to be walking on, like, Kapulani Boulevard, there's major boulevards that we have and cars are going 45 miles an hour and the speed limit is 25, 30, you know, and it's scary, you know, I know a lot of older people, you know, that commute by the bus, you know, and that's scared sometimes to cross the street, you know, especially when it's a mid-block crosswalk that doesn't have a light, you know, and cars are just speeding by, you know, without any concern. Yeah, something we need as drivers, we need to change the way we drive, you know, we need to make our communities safer. Right. And then, again, all around, everybody needs to just be more aware and just value life, their lives, and other lives as well. And when they do that, then they'll take more time to realize, you know, what they need to be doing and where. Well, you know, let's talk about what you do as a driver and how you teach your family. I love how you've, can you tell everybody because we were discussing with them. Yeah, I'm so excited. It was something I want to implement. Tell us about it. Okay, so when I, whenever you sat, you were my passenger lands and you were sitting in the passenger seat, I'm going to go over the whole thing, what you just said. And then I'm going to say, guys, you know what? When I'm driving, I want you to be my eyes, my, and my heart, and my, and listen and help me be a better driver. When you see somebody crossing in front of me, and obviously I'm not seeing them, I don't want you to go, I want you to say, stop left. And I train my people to say, stop left or stop right. Because when they say stop left, that means someone's approaching me on my left. So I'm going to immediately stop or slow down and look to the left and see who is coming and how fast I need to stop. But if you just scream, I'm going to look at you and say, what? And if the guy was on my left, I would have hit him already. So stop right. And then, and that's how I train my, my passengers to be in my car. You know, this would be great for us to teach our kids in the schools, you know, because we teach them to wear their seatbelts and, you know, always challenge, always challenge the driver. You know, if your friend is not wearing the seatbelt, don't get in that car. You know, and I think this is a nice way for kids to talk to their parents, go, mommy, mommy, stop left. Daddy, daddy, stop right. And that way, you stop, you know, before something horrible happens, right, before there's a collision. Exactly. I think it's great. I know I've been doing that for years and people think, Wendy, tell us that every time I go, yeah, because I got to remind you, I need your eyes. I can't trust my own eyes. I need more eyes on the road to help me help because there's pedestrians. So, you know, Wendy, I think you should not be just Miss walkwise Hawaii. I think you should be Miss drivewise Hawaii. I think we should be our driver ambassador in addition to our pedestrian ambassador. I always wanted to be a miss. Thank you, Lanz. I accept. Thank you so much. You're welcome. You're welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss drivewise Hawaii. So, Lanz, what type of drivers are crashing into pedestrians these things? Well, clearly inattentive drivers. You know, we had a survey that went out a while ago saying that, you know, I think it was about the Department of Health did something where, you know, 47% of the time it was driver, you know, unawareness and 53% of the time it was the pedestrian unawareness. You're not paying attention, being inattentive crossing the street. But the reality is, you know, we can't blame the pedestrian. You know what I'm saying? Because there they don't have a vehicle around them. You know, when they get into a crosswalk, there's no invisible force field that's going to protect them from the drivers. You know, as drivers, though, in our vehicle, we're pretty safe. You know, we have airbags, you know, so if we hit something, we're going to survive, you know, but the pedestrian is, you know, so really, you know, who are these drivers? You know, they're impaired drivers, right? They're distracted drivers, you know, but the biggest issue that we have beyond being impaired is speeding, right? People are just speeding, speeding, speeding, speeding. And that's really the driver that's hitting people. You know, we've got speeders and then also drivers, unfortunately in the court system, you know, who've got a lot of citations against them and they're still driving, you know, that's, that's what we see a lot of, you know, and we need to get those drivers off the road. You know, who have lost their licenses, you know, and are still driving, you know, we need to have family members or neighbors say, hey, that person shouldn't be on the road, you know, you know, let's get them off the road before they hit someone. And we see it time and time and time again. We have these young victims that get hit and they're by drivers, you know, who should not be on the road. Right, right. And they had a few, maybe some of them, 20 and 30 and plus, plus warnings and they're still there. So that's what will deteriorate the victims and their families is because why didn't we do something about them earlier? You know, and we're doing our job, you know, and, you know, we have our infrastructure out there with raised crosswalks, you know, at the police department, we're enforcing stuff, we're educating, but I think when we get to the court level, we need to do something over there. Yeah, a little more strict, I think, yeah. I think so. So Lance, what are the different types of distracted? Well, there are three types of distracted drive, right? So, okay, number one, it's when you take your hands off the wheel, right? You know, it's just when anytime you take your hands off the wheel, you're supposed to be a 10, two and 10, right, was drive this way, right? You know, so when you're getting like a bag of french fries, you're eating your food, that's, that's a distraction, right? You know, the other one is when you take your eyes off the road, right? Anytime you take the eyes off the road to look at something, whether it's your cell phone or something, you're also off the thing. And the last one, of course, is when you take your mind off the road, right? So think about this, how many times have you gotten in the wheel, gotten into your car, and you started a daydream and you drove on automatic pilot home, right? And you got all the way home to your drive when you parked your car. And if I were to ask you, hmm, Wendy, how many times did you stop at a stop light on the way home? Can you remember? We can, right? We're on automatic pilot going home and we're really lucky because during that moment, everyone was paying attention to each other, everyone was following the rules, you know, they stopped at the red light, they turned when the signal said to turn, you know, nobody was speeding and we were able to react and we made it home safely. But can you imagine if two drivers are just not paying attention to each other and daydream, you know, that's where the thing that happens, you know, we need to be more cognizant of what we're doing as drivers, you know, we as drivers have the power to make our roadways safe, right? We make the decision to speed or not to speed, you know, we make the decision to be distracted or not distracted, we make the decision to be impaired or not impaired, you know, and by impairment, I don't mean just drinking, you know, I mean taking medication, you know, you know, like there's a lot of impairments that you're gonna being tired, you know, being fatigued is an impairment for you. And so we really have to kind of get in the culture that, you know, anytime you don't feel fit to drive, you shouldn't drive, you know, someone should pick you up, you know, or call a friend and say, you know something, I don't think I should drive. I'm really tired today. Can you pick me up? Yes. And that right there is responsibility. And we just need to be more responsible not just our lives, but the lives out there as well. So it's a whole program. I'm glad this whole thing is coming about in even more in your face, I would like to say. And we need to be in the face because that's how people wake up. And I mean, not even after a tragedy, but before, you know, all the ones that we can prevent, that's when you're working so hard for that. And that's why your role is critical. Could you imagine if everybody just followed the speed limit? All we did was everybody followed the speed limit. Nobody went over, like nobody spent. Do you know how many lives we could save? Yeah. Just all follow the speed limit, right? Yeah, I got it. I got it. So Lance, how are you reaching out to drivers about driver awareness of pedestrians? Well, like I was saying earlier, you know, you're Ms. Walkwise Hawaii, but you're also Ms. Drivewise Hawaii. So even though our campaign is Pedestrian Safety Month and it's Walkwise Hawaii, the Pedestrian Safety Campaign, we have our Drivewise Program, which is sort of the counterpoint to pedestrian safety. So we have our seven steps to safety for pedestrians, but we have our seven steps for safety for drivers because you really need to raise driver awareness of pedestrians. And you know, I've been saying about the whole program, you know, as drivers, we need to think about pedestrians. Like every time we get behind the wheel, put on our seatbelt, turn on the ignition going, I'm going to look out for pedestrians, you know, we need to consider their movement, you know, we need to take into consideration if I'm stopping, let's say we get to a crosswalk and it's a four lane crosswalk and you have an auntie when you need to cross the street, she wants to go to times, right? So I'm stopping my car and I'm saying, well, auntie, you can cross the street. But you have to realize I only have power over my lane of traffic. Right. I'm stopped here. So the cars behind me stop, but I have no control over the car in lane two, the car in lane three, the car in lane four. So make sure before we, you know, we tell people to cross that make sure other drivers are aware and making sure you have eye contact with the driver. That's critical, that's so critical. You know, maybe roll down your window and say, I'm stopping here, you know, because I have seen it happen almost on like Kapahulu Avenue, you know, where somebody stops and lets somebody go and the other cars is zooming on by. Right. So we have a lot of one-way streets and, you know, as drivers, we really need to be cognizant, but maybe me stopping for this person may not be the safest thing for them right now. Yes, exactly. Maybe I should continue and say, oh, auntie, sorry, go after me. Yeah, yeah. You need to do it more clear and more safe. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's also a good point because some people would just stop because they want to do the right thing, but it's really not because the traffic is too heavy for the right thing at that moment. So she'd have to wait for a clear passage or make her way to a designated crosswalk. And this is a good point for me to do our drive-wise pledge. We have a drive-wise pledge, so please raise your hand as a good driver now. Ready? Here we go. I pledge. I pledge. As a good driver. As a good driver. To always be aware. To always be aware. That pedestrians. Pedestrians. Can be hidden from view. Can be hidden from view. By stopped vehicles. Stop vehicles. On multi-lane streets. On multi-lane streets. So basically the idea is if you ever see a car stop at a midway, any crosswalk, don't speed up, slow down. Nine times out of ten, that person's probably stopped for other reasons, but you don't want to be that tenth time when there's a pedestrian with a false sense of security to cross the street. So we have the power to make our roadway safe. Every single one of us does. Wow. Okay, so how can we as drivers make our roadway safe? Well, like I said, you know, number one, not speeding. You know, the reality is be a pedestrian. You know, something, park your car one day and go walk the streets near where you work or maybe instead of driving to the grocery store, walk the grocery store and cross the street several times. You know, that's a good way for you to understand, oh my God, the cars are fast over here. Oh my God, am I driving 45 miles per hour? Really understand what it's like to be a pedestrian. No, I don't want you to, you know, I haven't forbid that you learn this lesson because someone you know got hit. You know, go there and figure it out. You know, we have dogs, right? So go take your pets out and walk around the way and walk in sort of traffic-heavy areas and just really, really see how vulnerable people can be. Of course, be safe. You know, that is a very, very good tip, Lance, because you know, like when pandemic, we're locked up, we're walking more. I walked everywhere. And so by that, you yourself become aware because it's rightful walking on those big streets as a pedestrian. Like you said, some people never are a pedestrian, so they don't know the gear. But when now they are the driver, they can relate like, I remember crossing, that's very fearful. So I'm going to stop and make it less fearful for that pedestrian. So that is a good tip that people should get out and walk and see what it is like to be a true pedestrian, especially one that's following your, your walk safe rules. You know, we had an interesting thing that happened during COVID, you know, because we were trying to social distance by six feet from each other. So we were seeing people outside on the sidewalk and sometimes sidewalk is not six feet. We don't have enough space, right? So we were people crossing each other and then people would jump into the street to keep social distance from the person they were passing outside. But as a result, they were jumping in front of traffic. So it was an interesting, it was an interesting thing that we had during COVID where we're trying to be social distance, but also to be safe in the street. So a lot of times we had people walking on the street, they just jump in front of a car and that was not safe. Fortunately, our fatalities were very low during that. But So before we end, I want to ask you're really critical. What can parents do to educate their children on pedestrian safety? This is, this is the best thing you can do, right? You know, because like I said earlier, that seven year old kid that's in the booster seat, you know, and you know, kids have to be in the booster seat until like nine years old now. So, you know, that kid is going to be a driver, you know, and everything you do in your car, they're going to mimic, right? Because we know kids, you know, you hear them say a four letter word, like, where did that come from? It came from. Oh, yeah. So, you know, you, you've got it from the very beginning, be a good driver, you know, and I think one of the simplest things is take that cell phone and stick it in the glove compartment. Yes. And then also when you do need to answer the phone, pull over to the side of the road or, you know, like the parking lot, whatever, and turn off the ignition and say, hey, mommy's going to call Auntie now. Yes. And tell them what you're doing. So you're mimicking. Yeah. And then another thing also is to consider when you come to a yellow light, you know, we're all guilty of, oh, let's speed up, you know, and go through the intersection, but the reality is we should, that means slow down, right? Yes. So, you know, we should tell people that if the Kiki says, hey, mommy, how come you didn't go in that light? We have to rush. We have to pull the target. You know, you need to say, oh, we have to stop here because this is important for us to slow down. So when they get older, they copy these, they copy the habits for you. And that's what we can do. Just remember, everything we do as a parent, they're going to mimic, you know, and they're going to learn organic. And so, Lance, I know we have so much to talk about because it's a very important topic. But before we end our show, can you let us quickly know how can we get in touch with you and get more involved with your programs real quick? I want everyone to reach out to me morning, noon, or night. Okay. So on the screen here, we have my name, you know, and my telephone number's on there as well, right? I think telephone number's on there, right? Yeah. And then also, you can reach out to me. The easiest way is Facebook. Go to Walfi, Hawaii at Facebook and you can instant message me. That's the quickest way. You know, on the screen here, my office number, but just go to Facebook, you know, and just walk by Hawaii, Facebook. Aloha, Lance. I said on the screen, you know, with Wendy, I love your yellow coffee. Thank you so much, Lance. But, you know, our show has to come to a close for now. You are such an answer to my so many and others' prayers for creating pedestrian safety month and for educating both the pedestrians and the drivers on how to be safer. I am Wendy Low and we will return in two weeks with another edition of Taking Your Help Back with Wendy and Lance Ray. Aloha, Lance. Mahalo.