PRSA, AAJA & SPJ Present: The Pedestrian Safety Crisis in America

Traffic crashes have long been a leading American killer, but during the pandemic and post-pandemic years we’ve seen an alarming increase in deaths and injuries.

More than 7,000 pedestrians are getting killed every year on American streets, representing an enormous 70 percent increase since 2011. In Hawai‘i, 59 people died in traffic crashes last year, 40% of which were pedestrians and cyclists.

Due to their frequency, traffic crashes have traditionally treated as low-stakes and routine in media reporting.

Increasingly, however, these incidents are being seen as part of a public health crisis, and one that has disproportionate impact on disadvantaged groups. This seminar will help media professionals learn to frame traffic deaths and injuries sensitively, identify the structural causes and produce compelling reporting with an eye toward actionable solutions.

Angie Schmitt, the author of the new book , will talk about the social trends that are putting people at risk. And why fundamentally, it is a problem of systematic, structural inequality. Angie is a writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She was the long-time national editor at Streetsblog and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Bicycling, GOOD, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and a number of other publications.

Participants will learn:

• How to write talking points that avoid harmful terms or conventions
• The profile of a typical victim and how it can produce narrative imbalance
• How to tie individual incidents to local and national trends and patterns
• How to use and write holding statements that avoid premature assignation of blame

All proceeds through this Eventbrite page will benefit PRSA Hawai‘i.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

King Liberty Center, 99 North King Street, Honolulu, United States