Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. It started in Sweden and was approved by their parliament in October 1997.
SAFETY OVER SPEED
Each year, more than 40,000 people — the population of a small city — are needlessly killed on American streets and thousands more are injured. We call this suffering traffic “accidents” — but, in reality, we have the power to prevent traffic collisions.
For too long, we’ve considered traffic deaths and severe injuries to be inevitable side effects of modern life. We face a crisis on our streets — with traffic violence taking too many lives — but there has traditionally been a lack of urgency from the public and our policymakers to reverse this fatal trend. Even those attempting to address the problem — the traffic engineer, police officer, policymaker, advocate or public health specialist — are working upstream, often isolated in silos or trying to move forward without reliable data, resources, or political support.
CASE STUDY
Centering equity in Vision Zero
At its core, Vision Zero recognizes that all people have the right to move about their communities safely. All people. At its core, Vision Zero is about ensuring equity on our streets, sidewalks, and bikeways.
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