Sec. LaHood issued a new directive yesterday that officially shows DOT’s support for improving safety for walking and bicycling — treating them as equal modes of transportation. Last fall we released a report chronicling the 76,000 preventable pedestrian deaths over the last 15 years on streets unsafe for walkers or bikers. Today, DOT made some progress on the issue.

Just a week after the release of Dangerous by Design, Transportation for America and six of our key partners met with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday to deliver a petition with thousands of signatures urging him to make pedestrian safety and complete streets a priority at USDOT. He responded with resounding support, telling T4 America during a meeting yesterday, “the right of way doesn’t just belong to cars — it belongs to pedestrians and bicyclists as well.”