Press Releases - Department of Transportation

For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 5, 2018

The National Safety Council has designated f April as Distracted Driving Awareness month. To promote safety, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett announced the “Stay Alert, Stay Alive” awareness and enforcement campaign to curb distracted driving and distracted walking. The campaign includes the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) collaboration during Teen Pedestrian Safety Week, April 23 to 27, to reduce collisions resulting from distracted driving and walking. During the last five years, drivers have hit at least 292 teen pedestrians in Montgomery County, and five of those teens died.

“One of MCDOT’s highest priorities is ensuring safety for all road users – walkers, bikers and vehicles,” said MCDOT Director Al Roshdieh. “That is why we are committed to reducing severe and fatal collisions on our roadways through education and engineering, and launching a campaign to educate our youth about pedestrian safety.”

In addition to promoting safety through education, MCDOT also makes traffic engineering improvements throughout the County, including the types of safety-related enhancements recently completed or underway in the North Wheaton community where Leggett made his announcement near Wheaton High School.

The “Stay Alert, Stay Alive” campaign is part of Montgomery County’s Vision Zero initiative to reduce severe and fatal collisions among vehicle occupants, bicyclists and pedestrians. The National Safety Council has identified April as Distracted Driving Awareness month. Read more about the campaign and Vision Zero.