The city of Kenmore has noticed that the month of March seems to pose more of a threat to pedestrian and bicycle safety than others. That’s why they’re spending millions of dollars on sidewalks, new traffic safety devices, and awareness campaigns that will hopefully keep everyone in Kenmore safe.

“If a driver messes up they have the potential of hurting other people, if a pedestrian messes up… it’s usually just themselves they’re hurting,” said Kenmore City Manager Rob Karlinsey. “We really want to get to drivers and have drivers see the importance of slowing down or watching for the ped crossing signs, and educating them that bikes and peds have the right of way and you gotta watch out for them.”

The city hopes that the Target Zero Initiative will help spread the word that pedestrian and bicycle safety are a real concern; their goal is zero fatalities among these groups by the year 2025.

Not only are there new sidewalks coming to Kenmore, but scores of new road projects to improve safety.

The West-A project on 522 will have wider bus lanes, landscaped medians, improved transit stops, and more, will begin construction later this year.

However, those aren’t the only improvement. A new traffic engineer position with the city will help develop and implement a slew of safety improvements, along with responding to citizen concerns, analyzing accident reports, and ensuring consistent compliance with regulations.

Well before hiring the engineer, Kenmore is already working on educating everyone on how to be safe. Signs can be seen around town, informing pedestrians and bicyclists about awareness – “See and be seen” – whereas driver awareness billboards are coming soon along with partnering with other cities.

“The accidents we’ve had, a lot of the drivers are not from Kenmore,” Karlinsey said. “So how do you reach them? How do you educate drivers that don’t live in our city?”

Three people were killed in either pedestrian or bicycle and car accidents during the past two years.

The city has tips for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, such as cars and bikes sharing the road equally, drivers not engaging in distracting activities, and stop, look and listen for pedestrians at crossings.

“We’ve applied for a grant from the state through the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission and coincidentally enough it’s called Target Zero and it’s going to be aimed at pedestrian safety and getting the word out,” Karlinsey said. “If we get the grant we’d be able to get billboard signs on Bothell Way and bus advertisements on the side of buses and other marketing materials. It’ll also pay for enforcement and special police emphasis.”

A portion of the city budget already has a smaller amount for education and enforcement. However, it will be harder to connect to drivers until the grant is garnered.

“I just find that so frustrating. How do you drive that message home, that you’re driving a lethal weapon and need to pay attention to what you’re doing?” said Kenmore Mayor David Baker.