“Mr. Walker” sculptures will draw attention of drivers to respecting crosswalks and stopping for pedestrians in expansion of successful Springfield, MO program.
If you walk much around Kansas City you probably notice that KC drivers are often really bad about respecting crosswalks and stopping for pedestrians. Our neighbors in Springfield, MO have developed a successful program that significantly improves driver compliance with traffic laws, and KCMO has now launched its own SafeAcross KC program.
Large yellow Mr. Walker sculptures of pedestrians have now been installed at 10 locations across the city, with more to come. In addition to the eye-catching art pieces, City Hall crews will go into the field to conduct quarterly crosswalk compliance studies to see how many drivers stop for people in crosswalks. The data collection will also help measure the effectiveness of infrastructure improvements like raised crosswalks and speed tables that are installed as part of the city’s Vision Zero program.
SafeAcross KC will also include Student Walker sculptures near schools, to compliment the city’s 2025 policy to ban Right Turns On Red in schools zones in the wake of the death of Hazen Workman-Duffy a year ago this month.
The folks from Springfield’s SafeAcross program came to KC in 2025 as part of Mid-America Regional Council’s safety action plan process. Officials from several metro cities were trained on the program. We are excited to see KCMO join SafeAcross and urge all cities in the metro area to follow their lead.