The Maricopa Association of Governments is conducting a survey to get a sense of safety concerns involving walking, biking and driving throughout the Valley. MAG’s survey has two elements.
The first part is a series of questions gauging how safe residents feel and their biggest concerns. The second part features an interactive map that allows respondents to pinpoint specific locations they’d like to offer feedback on.
Margaret Herrera, Transportation Safety Program manager for MAG, explains what the map is. "You have the opportunity to grab either a bike, pedestrian or a car and place it in an area where you’ve seen an issue or had a personal issue walking, biking, or driving in that area," she said.
Herrera said MAG is also sending out surveys to national and international regions to gather comparative data.
“We’ll have a comparison of what exists here in the region and compare it to places where they’ve had success. We'll see where we can meet those things and how we can meet the challenge of improving safety through these different elements," she said.
MAG plans to incorporate the best practices into a safety plan, which Herrera said will be implemented in about a year.