The power of collaboration and multidisciplinary work cannot be underestimated. One thing I find that the Lancaster community does very well is collaborating across institutions. Small collective steps can lead to big outcomes for the Lancaster community.
One example is on the front of traffic safety. “In the summer of 2024, we were seeing an uptake in pedestrian and bike related crashes and we reached out to the City of Lancaster to see what we can do about it”, Dr. Jeffrey Martin Chair of Family and Community Medicine at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health said. Since July 2024, we have been meeting monthly with representatives from the City Police, Fire, Health and Engineering teams as well as Lancaster County, Lancaster Safety Coalition and LGH Penn Medicine.
The results of these multidisciplinary meetings have been around establishing collaboration and data discussions. This resulted in actions around ongoing research, and the development of educational and traffic safety initiatives.
“As an immediate result we developed bike safety education resources which have been made available in LGH Penn Medicine’s EPIC system for medical providers. Our one-pager has been sent out to 420 primary care providers including Family Medicine and Pediatricians in the County. In addition, educational slides have been created which are now shown on all of the TV screens at about 30 of Penn Medicine’s primary care practices in the County during this year’s upcoming Bike season till the end of October 2025.”
“These resources are also shown at Lancaster’s City Hall and we are open to share these resources with any other interested medical institutions as well”, Dr. Martin said. “We are excited because through collaboration, this educational campaign has the ability to reach about 75% of the population of Lancaster County (550,000 total)”.
Furthermore, Lancaster County representatives have been attending these multidisciplinary meetings to see which lessons-learned can be incorporated into Lancaster County’s Traffic Safety Action Plan. “We are building on top of the City of Lancaster’s Vision Zero work, and we are hoping to present our Traffic Safety Action Plan in the second half of 2025” Lancaster County’s Principal Planner Kristiana Barr said.
The metaphor of throwing pebbles into a pond and seeing the ripple effects often comes to mind as I think about this multidisciplinary work over the past year. And much gratitude and appreciation must be given all involved to make this possible. Together we can ensure safer streets and roads for all!
Resources
- Biking in Lancaster City (Video)
- Ciclismo en la ciudad de Lancaster (Video)
- Bike Safety Info Sheet (PDF)
- Hoja informativa sobre seguridad en bicicleta (PDF)
- Lancaster County’s Traffic Safety Action Plan
Bryant Heng is a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow studying how Lancaster City can make transportation better. Learn more here.
