"And help yourself by not getting a traffic citation or worse, hurting someone or getting hurt yourself," says St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who is one of several St. Paul city officials to appear in a video urging motorists and pedestrians to be safe.
That plea follows at least five deadly crashes involving pedestrians this year in the city.
Jeremy Ellison, commander of the traffic and pedestrian safety unit within the St. Paul Police Department, says departments have already worked together to address a difficult to see stop sign.
"From the city services side of things, they were able to get some crews out there and trim some trees and make it more visible," Ellison explains. "And then the officers were out there doing some education as well, stopping the drivers who were not coming to complete stops and having a discussion about why it's so important to make sure that they're driving safely."
The city is rallying around a "Stop For Me" campaign to help curb a rising number of deadly crashes. Ellison says a number of behind-the-wheel habits are creating unsafe conditions, and there are easy fixes.
"Definitely distracted driving, it's definitely speed," Ellison says. "I think when when people are driving 25 MPH or driving the speed limit on a roadway, they're more likely to be able to safely stop for pedestrians and obviously we want people to stay off their phones. We're seeing a ton of distracted driving out there."
Last week, a 47-year-old St. Paul woman died, two weeks after she was hit by a car near Hamline Avenue North and Midway Parkway, highlighting the dangers that the city wants to curb. The campaign combines that enforcement of traffic laws, and education around traffic safety.
"It's not just residential streets, it's everywhere," Ellison adds. But in St. Paul, that's something we've been focused on we started in April this year really focusing on distracted driving. And we're out there writing a lot of citations trying to change that behavior and make make people put their phones down when they're out driving."
