Belmont to enact new pedestrian plan that will address safety after child struck by car

The city of Belmont held a special meeting last week to discuss an update to the Belmont Pedestrian Plan.

The special meeting was organized to discuss an updated plan after a four-year-old boy was struck by a car in Belmont the week prior.

The new plan will include revisions to Belmont’s transportation committee and planning to introduce new safety features in targeted areas of the city.

From 2007-2020, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has reported 85 crashes in Belmont involving pedestrians, according to the city’s planning and zoning director Tiffany Faro, who spoke at the meeting.

Nationally, non-motorist fatalities have gone up 43% in the last 10 years, Faro said.

The city has received a recommendation from the NCDOT with advice to help lower the number of pedestrian-involved accidents in the city.

Some of those are introducing more sidewalks, increasing speed-limit enforcement, installing pedestrian refuge islands, and adding exclusive pedestrian phasing to some intersections.

Faro said in her presentation that incorporating more accessibility to multimodal forms of transportation can help prevent traffic back-ups when slowing the speed of traffic.

She stated that the survivability of a pedestrian that is struck by a vehicle is based on the speed of the roadway.

When the vehicle is traveling 45 mph, the pedestrian has a 35% chance of surviving. At 35 mph, the chances of survival increase to 68%, and at 25 mph, the number becomes an 89% chance of survival.

Lowering speed limits in areas that see a higher volume of pedestrians was also discussed at the meeting.

The three highest risk areas that the city was encouraged to prioritize were downtown, northern and eastern Belmont, all of which continue to grow the fastest, according to Faro.

The recommendation also encouraged the city to restructure its transportation committee.

It was recommended that the city have two seats at the table for City Council members, two for city staff members, two for members of the Gaston-Cleveland-Lincolnton Metropolitan Planning Organization staff, and two for NCDOT representatives.

City Council members added that they would like to include two seats for Belmont residents at that table, and will likely open up applications for those seats in the coming month, according to City Manager Miles Braswell.

NCDOT will pay for 80% of the cost to draft this new plan, and the city of Belmont will cover the other 20%.

Having a plan in-hand will qualify the city for grants that can help cover the costs of enacting it.

Belmont residents with an interest in serving on the transportation committee should keep an eye on the city’s website, www.cityofbelmont.org.

“The city of Belmont is a place where walking is safe, accessible, fun, and supportive of an active and healthy lifestyle, where people of all ages and abilities can move and access their daily needs safely by foot, and by all forms of active transportation,” Faro said, saying the statement as the new plan’s vision.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: City of Belmont to enact new pedestrian plan