DOT Safety Education News

The “Signs for Safety” residency program has been making a visual impact on communities throughout New York City for the last three year. Run by DOT and the Groundswell Community Mural project, the ten session program teaches students the importance of traffic safety and helps them survey the streets near their schools to analyze conditions and identify potential risks.
Throughout the weeks students work with Groundswell artists, studying the use of colors and symbols and ultimately design one-of-a-kind traffic safety signs that address their safety concerns.

A key component of this educational program is a trip to the DOT sign shop to see firsthand how traffic signs are made and to learn about the importance of signs, signals and street markings for the safety pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. Each spring DOT installs these signs for safety at each participating school, building awareness among all who see them.

Traffic signs are most notable for their clear, symbolic imagery that provide direction, information or identify hazards. Our community signs, while providing universal visual messages, are also uniquely reflective of the communities they inhabit. This year we are please to present a number of multicultural signs with combinations of English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean languages.

Special congratulations to our ten residency schools: PS 105, Brooklyn; PS 345, Brooklyn; Archimedes Academy, Bronx; PS 310, Bronx; PS 128, Manhattan; IS 143, Manhattan; PS 33, Queens; PS 20, Queens; IS 238, Queens and PS 55, Staten Island.

Here are some simple, yet important tips from student participants. Take a look at some of this year's signs and see what other tips they communicate!

• Wear your helmet! When bicycling, a helmet is the best protection your brain has.
• When you cross, walk the crosswalk. Drivers may not be able to stop quickly enough if you step out, unexpectedly, in the middle of the block.
• Pay Attention! Avoid distractions like music players and phones when you're crossing the street.