Local Safety Programs Promote Vehicle Safety Around Children, Bikers And Pedestrians

BROOKLINE (KDKA) -- A group of children enjoy one of the few activities Coronavirus hasn't taken away this summer: bike riding.

"They've been having a blast," mother of three Sierra Constantine said.

Her three kids are between 4-years-old and 8-years-old, but there were times it wasn't safe to let them bike outside their home on Gallion Avenue in Brookline.

"People have a tendency to just let their breaks go and fly down our hill," she said pointing up Gallion Avenue.

When she discovered a post about the city's Neighborhood Slow Streets program, she immediately applied and the city accepted the request.

"I don't want to be the one to see a kid get hurt or hit by a car because somebody is speeding," Constantine said.

The program is part of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure's COVID-19 response. The program involves low volume neighborhood streets. It discourages non-local traffic while promoting slow driving speeds to create more places for outdoor activities and be socially distant.

"I know is there's a lot of kids here in Brookline, so it's the perfect place to have a thing like this," Connor Mulvaney with South Hills Safe Streets said.

South Hills Safe Streets is a bike and pedestrian advocacy group. His post is what started Constantine's process to get the program in her neighborhood.

"Even just sitting here or riding on my bike through the network itself or running people seem to taking notice of the signs,"

Currently in Pittsburgh, about a dozen streets have been approved for the program.

Constantine says the signs were placed on her street about 10 days ago.

"We notice cars slowing down now and they are more aware of the children and of us," Constantine said while watching her children bike.

The hope is the program will be continued past the COVID-19 crisis.

"I think if the need arises and there's a program like this that can pop up then we should have that at our disposal," Mulvaney said.