Research has shown that pavement art has a strong positive correlation with improved safety benefits, particularly in relation to crash reduction, across aggregated and most individual study sites. The Asphalt Art Safety Study conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies in April 2022 analyzed before-and-after data of crash rates at 17 pavement art locations, including seven in Florida, and performed video analysis of street user behaviors. The study concluded that road user behavior clearly improved across the observed study sites in the after analysis periods. On average, areas featuring pavement art experienced a 17.3% reduction in crashes, underscoring the importance of pavement art as a safety measure.
Other studies reached similar conclusions. Research from FSU found a 10% decrease in drivers running stop signs and a 6% increase in drivers coming to a full stop at two intersections in Tallahassee following installation of artistic crosswalk murals. FSU & Knight Creative Communities Institute, “FSU Research Shows Artistic Crosswalks Improve Safety,” Knight Creative Communities Institute Newsroom (Oct. 10, 2023). See also Cruz, The Impact of Murals on Traffic Safety: A Behavior and Crash Analysis (Master’s Thesis, University of New Mexico, Fall 2022).
The Bloomberg study examined a pavement art installation in St Pete and found that the crash reduction pavement art led to a decrease in accidents from 4.2 per year to 4 per year, demonstrating a 4% reduction. This demonstrates that pavement art is a cheap and easy way to reduce crashes.
In the memo below, FDOT Assistant Secretary Will Watts, P.E., enforces a FDOT pavement art ban that prohibits local officials from installing pavement art. He threatens to withhold roadway funds from cities that fail to comply, citing roadway safety as the reason for this policy. Ironically, while he claims to prioritize pavement art safety, Mr. Watts is ignoring the data on the safety benefits of pavement art and making our roadways more dangerous.
The FDOT pavement art ban will make our roads less safe. Click the link below to email FDOT urging them to reverse this dangerous policy. A personalized message is best, but even sending the form email helps. (If you use Outlook, you may need to replace the commas in the "to" field with semicolons.) You can also reach out to FDOT Assistant Secretary Will Watts at (850) 414-5236.