Durham, N.C. — More than 2,000 North Carolina pedestrians are injured and 168 killed in an average year, according to state statistics, so area law enforcement agencies are trying to promote pedestrian safety.

As part of the WatchForMeNC program, police departments in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, as well as public safety offices on Triangle university campuses, have been enforcing pedestrian safety at targeted intersections in recent weeks.

"Everybody in America is a pedestrian,” David Strickland, chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Wednesday during a gathering in Durham.

WatchForMeNC seeks to educate both drivers and pedestrians on behaviors and actions that can improve safety.

“The motorist needs to understand their responsibility," Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said. "These people who are out there don’t need their mercy. They need their courtesy.”