In 2019, Seminole County, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, seven cities, and their respective police departments, plus the public schools and health department joined the Best Foot Forward coalition, more than doubling its size. The Seminole County launch event was held October 2, 2019 at the Seminole County Chamber.

The addition of Seminole County and its partners to the Best Foot Forward coalition completed the Metro-Orlando MSA group (Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford).

The natural third piece of the Best Foot Forward puzzle, several high-crash corridors stretch between Orange and Seminole counties, and agencies who track stats by metropolitan areas include Best Foot Forward’s 3 counties (Orange, Osceola, Seminole). The Seminole partners have been eager from the start to implement the Triple E approach on their chosen crosswalks and increase the number of drivers who yield and stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks.

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.

On October 2, 2019, Seminole’s 16 new partners joined the Best Foot Forward coalition, making it the largest grassroots coalition in the country, focused on lowering pedestrian fatalities and injuries. October 2 was also International Walk to School Day. Several elected officials helped walk children safely to class before speaking at the launch event in Sanford.

Teamwork was the central message that day, as speaker after speaker stressed the value of working together to make the streets safer for pedestrians. The strength of a coalition was clearly the theme with motivating comments from the following speakers:

• Commissioner Bob Dallari
• Gary Huttmann, CEO of MetroPlan Orlando
• special guests Roni Wood and Wendy Goodrich
• Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma
• Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith
• Casselberry Mayor Charlene Glancy
• Commissioner TiAnna Hale
• Superintendent Dr. Walt Griffin
• Venise White of the Florida Health Department: Seminole County
• Lisa Portelli, Founder and Board Member of Bike/Walk Central Florida.

More than 100 people attended the Seminole County launch and heard the messages from their elected leaders in person. Another 800 watched online.

The message: People’s lives are too important NOT to do something to keep them safe.

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