A $25,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is expected to help improve pedestrian safety, according to a UW-Madison Police Department press release.
Jointly with the Madison Police Department, UWPD plans to use the additional funding to “help cover specialized training for officers, and increased pedestrian safety enforcement,” UWPD Public Information Officer Marc Lovicott wrote in the release.
Officers from the two law enforcement organizations will be trained in issues and protocols pertaining specifically to pedestrian safety April 14 and April 15.
More than 1,200 pedestrians were injured in Wisconsin during the past year due to collisions with motor vehicles, with 35 pedestrian deaths occurring over the same timespan, according to statistics from the DOT.
The proposed trainings will emphasize officers enforcing certain practices, including making motor vehicles yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and eliminating the human error that causes more than 90 percent of bicycle crashes, according to the release.
