In 2012, the leaders of Orange County and Orlando came together to form the initial Best Foot Forward Coalition. Together, they believed they could make the roads safer by focusing on one critical behavior: getting more drivers to yield and stop for people in marked crosswalks. Over the last nine years, Best Foot Forward has tracked significant improvements in driver yield rates at observed crosswalks.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 62% of residents of the Greater Orlando Metro live in Orange County. That made Orange County and the City of Orlando the obvious starting point for Best Foot Forward to make a big difference in Central Florida pedestrian safety.

Each year, the Best Foot Forward Steering Committees choose a number of crosswalks to monitor and enforce. The steering committees are made up of city and county engineers, planners, law enforcement, representatives from the public schools, the health department and public transit. Crosswalks are chosen based on a number of factors including: ones near schools, LYNX bus stops or SunRail stations, ones in high-crash corridors, ones with a high number of resident complaints, and ones with engineering changes or counter-measures already planned.

Below are the 2020 crosswalks chosen. Click on each crosswalk on the Google Map below to see details. Click on each crosswalk in the grid below the map to see Google Street View.

* Tier 2 crosswalks are monitored but not enforced.

Best Foot Forward launched on May 30, 2012 at a standing-room-only press conference hosted by Orlando Health, timed to coincide with National Trauma Awareness Month.

Speakers included:

• Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
• Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley
• Maitland Mayor Howard Schieferdecker
• Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin
• Graciela Noriega-Jacoby, chief of staff, Orange County Government
• Howard Barley, Executive Director, MetroPlan Orlando
• Patty Maddox, CEO/President, Winter Park Health Foundation
• John Lewis, CEO of LYNX
• Ronald Blocker, Retired Orange County Public Schools Superintendent
• John Promes, MD, Trauma Medical Director, Orlando Regional Medical Center
• Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings
• Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney

More than 150 attendees were present and the launch was advanced in print and video by the Orlando Sentinel, leading that day’s paper and was followed up the next day with an article, plus a column and editorial. It was covered by all local television stations, all news radio, in English and Spanish, and picked up by the national NPR blog “Transportation Nation.”

To read more about the program’s history, click here.

Click on the city to view the resolution.

City of Orlando

Orange County