Do you feel safe walking?

Victoria Walks is working with the State Government and local councils to crowdsource opinions on walking around Melbourne, in a ground-breaking approach to understanding road safety.

We are asking people to indicate their walking safety concerns through an interactive online map, hosted by internet engagement specialists CrowdSpot.  They can indicate concerns like a lack of pedestrian crossings, poor street lighting, high traffic speed, or footpath problems.  

“This is the first time the CrowdSpot platform has been used to gather pedestrian perceptions right across a major city,” says Anthony Aisenberg, Director of CrowdSpot.

VicRoads, the City of Melbourne and 13 other metropolitan councils have signed up to the project.  They will get the data to help them decide on road safety improvements and prioritise investment.

“Our understanding of road safety issues is usually limited to official crash statistics, which only tell part of the story” says Ben Rossiter, Executive Officer of Victoria Walks. “Crash statistics provide data on serious injury crashes, but they don’t tell us about all crashes, what people are worried about and where they do or don’t feel safe walking.”

The project is being funded primarily by a Community Road Safety Grant from the TAC. "The Andrews Government is investing in local organisations to develop innovative ways to keep pedestrians safe in metropolitan Melbourne," says the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Hon. Luke Donnellan.

In the last 10 years, 444 pedestrians lost their lives on Victorian roads. “Business as usual is not an option,” Dr Rossiter says. “Road agencies won’t be able to fix every problem, and action will take time. But the feedback from the community will help them decide what to do and where.”

More information on the project, including a full list of project partners, is available at www.walkspot.org.au.

Have your say at http://walkspot.crowdspot.com.au. Consultation closes on 28 April.