State & Local Resources
Community Traffic Safety Teams (CTST): Community Traffic Safety Teams are locally based groups of highway safety advocates that are committed to a common goal of improving traffic safety in their communities. By working together with interested citizens and other traffic safety advocates within their communities, the CTSTs help to solve local traffic safety problems and promote public awareness of traffic safety best practices through campaigns that educate drivers, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists about the rules of the road.
Florida’s Pedestrian & Bicycle Focused Initiative: In November 2011, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) charged District One Secretary Billy Hattaway with the task of championing Florida’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Focused Initiative. Secretary Hattaway quickly formed a team and began working towards the goal of increasing awareness and decreasing fatalities of bicyclists and pedestrians in Florida.
Florida Bicycle Association (FBA): The FBA’s mission for Florida bicycling is to network and share best practices, to educate and advocate and to build awareness as a unified voice.
Florida’s Pedestrian/Bicycle Safety Resource Center: The Florida Pedestrian/Bicycling Safety Resource Center promotes safe pedestrian and bicycling activities for citizens and visitors, young and old, by providing educational materials and information to advocate groups in the state.
Best Practices for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Office of Greenways and Trails: Information about Florida’s state-maintained greenways and trails system. On the Department of Environmental Protection website
Florida State Parks: Florida has an excellent system of state parks, many of which offer bicycling and hiking opportunities
Adventure Cycling: Information about bike touring nationwide, including mapped routes in the State of Florida
Bike Florida: Information about touring and bicycle-related events in Florida
Bike-Ped Partnership Council: What if you have no bike lane or trail, but still need to ride your bike? Visit this web site to learn about bicycling safely on whatever streets you’ve got
I Am Traffic: Interagency council working to improve bicycling and walking safety in the State of Florida
National Resources
National Pedestrian Resource Center
Walk Score: Find a walkable place to live
National Complete Streets Coalition
The National Center for Bicycling & Walking
National Center for Safe Routes to School
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
PEDBIKESAFE: Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System
Benefits of Walking
Walking is good for your body and mind and especially your heart. A recent Harvard study shows that walking at a moderate pace (3 mph) for up to 3 hours a week—or 30 minutes a day–can cut the risk of heart disease in women by as much as 40%. This is the same benefit you would get from aerobics, jogging, or other vigorous exercise. The benefits to men are comparable.
Along with its benefits to the heart, walking:
- improves circulation
- helps breathing
- combats depression
- bolsters the immune system
- helps prevent osteoporosis
- helps prevent and control diabetes
- helps control weight (see below)
Studies have also shown that people are most likely to stick to exercise when it is part of their daily lives. Walking is an ideal exercise for everyone, and most people can take some of their trips on foot—to work, school, the store, church, or the movies. This enables people to incorporate walking into activities they would be doing anyway.