October is pedestrian safety month.

Earlier this week we told you the dos and don'ts to stay safe on the road.

But transportation officials say altering the design of our streets in ways we might barely notice can also reduce road injuries and deaths.

Kentucky Additions June Leffler has more.

Not obeying the rules of the road can be deadly.

But Kentucky's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, Keith Lovin, says it shouldn't be that way.

Humans make mistakes, but they shouldn't have to pay their life for that mistake.

Logan asks, Why might a pedestrian step out in front of a car or jaywalk?

Was there not a sidewalk?

There?

Was there know?

Was there not a crosswalk that they can go to?

The crosswalk is, you know, a half a mile away.

Nobody's going to walk up to the intersection if they need to get across the street.

Logan, an engineer, says most streets were originally built to move cars as quickly as possible, but redesigned roads now can better accommodate walkers and cyclists.

There's things that you can use, such as speed tables, you can use, reflect live markings, you can do enhanced crosswalks, you can do signals where the pedestrian activates the lights in the light will turn red, and that signals that the motor is to stop narrowing streets.

And even planting trees can subconsciously tell drivers to slow down.

If you go down a tree lined street, you're going to go much slower than if you go and it's just wide open.

There's no amenities, no vegetation.

That's been proven that trees will calm a street.

Last year, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet updated its Complete Streets safety manual for the first time in 20 years.

It recommends how roads can be built to better serve all users.

The state also works with the city of Louisville to target the most dangerous roads and intersections in that city.

Claire Yates is a transportation planner with the city of Louisville.

We conduct field visits at all locations where pedestrians or cyclists in Jefferson County have been struck and seriously injured or killed on surface streets.

And we develop recommendations as part of a collaborative team.

The city set a goal to eliminate all pedestrian deaths by 2050.

Adopting an approach called Vision Zero.

And top priority of any government is to protect its residents.

Just.

Just that we would not accept any gun violence deaths.

We should not accept any traffic deaths.

Earlier this year, Louisville received 21 million federal dollars to improve ten of its highest risk roads.

Those streets include Bury Boulevard in Southern Parkway in the south, then an east and West Oak Street in Oslo.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.