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California Walks and the University of California Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) have opened applications for their 2023 round of Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST).
The CPBST offers free, customized workshops for a wide range of groups working on safety issues or that want to know more about how to make their communities safer, including residents, schools, community-based organizations and nonprofits, city departments, government agencies, and local businesses.
The CPBST team works with local residents and safety advocates "to develop a community-driven action plan to improve walking and biking safety in their communities." The program aims to increase people's knowledge of pedestrian and bicyclist safety and solutions; identify safety strategies that can work in the community, and strengthen rapport and communication between residents, local officials, agency staff, coalitions, and other partners.
The SafeTREC site points to a number of past training successes. CPBST participation has helped neighborhoods advocate for stop signs, develop walking school buses, and secure grants including AARP Community Challenge Grants and California Active Transportation Program (ATP) funding. "Many communities who received training have reported that they planned community outreach activities, an education event, or a walk/bike assessment since the CPBST workshop," according to workshop materials.
The workshops comprise facilitated discussions on local crash data and local residents' safety experiences; walking and biking assessments to identify safety concerns and opportunities for improvements; an educational overview of the Safe System framework and strategies; and interactive activities to help develop a safety action plan.
More information can be found at the CalWalks website, including how to apply.
SafeTREC has posted an interactive map of communities that have participated in the past with details about what they have achieved.
