Traffic accidents between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists are taken for granted as inevitable events. But Vision Zero has promoted a bold idea for decades: that traffic fatalities and injuries are avoidable with proper design of streets – and in fact, the number of auto-people collisions should be ZERO.
Background
Vision Zero views traffic “accidents” as a public health issue that can be prevented by prioritizing traffic safety. Vision Zero has a core assumption that people will make mistakes, which means road systems need to be built proactively to prevent fatalities when mistakes are made. The initiative is multidisciplinary, bringing together community traffic planners, engineers, elected officials and public health experts for upstream road design that will lead to zero deaths and severe injuries. Another major precept is that everyone shares responsibility for safer streets – policy makers, car manufacturers and road users (drivers, pedestrians and cyclists).
The concept has spread in Europe, the United States, Canada, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Vision Zero Network, the U.S. campaign, released a new report this month on traffic enforcement, Right-Sizing the Role of Traffic Enforcement: Prioritizing Effective, Cost-Efficient and Equitable Improvements to Road Safety.
“A Safe System approach focuses on designing a system where traffic crashes are less likely to occur and, when they do happen, are less severe. Recognizing that human error is inevitable, this approach prioritizes road infrastructure, policies and vehicle designs to protect people from serious harm. It also focuses on designing environments and systems that help make safe behaviors the default, or easiest, options for people.
“It prioritizes “upstream” safety strategies that prevent traffic crashes and lessen the severity of crashes when they do happen. Such strategies include designing roads to be more self-enforcing by physically encouraging safer speeds, which are a top factor in the occurrence and severity of crashes.”
Examples of good design features include:
- narrower travel lanes
- traffic circles instead of corners with stop signs
- speed humps (lower than speed bumps)
- crosswalks that are well-marked and appropriately located
- bike paths that are well positioned
- sufficent time allowed for slow walkers to cross a street
- lighting at night
- median barriers on two-lane roads to prevent head-on crashes
Law enforcement’s role
Given that #speeding and impaired driving are both responsible for 30% of traffic deaths in the U.S., law enforcement plays an important role in traffic safety.
However, stopping drivers, pedestrians or cyclists for minor infractions – such as a broken taillight – diverts resources from dangerous driving. Even worse, people driving / walking / cycling while black or brown (#DWB) receive proportionally more stops for administrative, non-dangerous violations. Low-income neighborhoods often lack good signage, proper crosswalks and good lightening, which can lead to more jaywalking. Fines from these administrative traffic stops can add to the poverty of low-income residents.
Many cities have responded with better policies. The Minneapolis Vision Zero Action Plan focuses police attention on moving violations, because they are connected to injuries and deaths. The Oklahoma City Vision Zero Action Plan declares that enforcement should focus on “unsafe behaviors causing serious and fatal collisions in Oklahoma City, as there is a risk of over policing in these places along which many disadvantaged community members face a challenge of poor infrastructure.”
Law enforcement needs to be part of the multi-disciplinary approach towards traffic safety.
The Traffic Fatality Review Board in Franklin County, Ohio, is run by the public health agency, which brings together law enforcement, transportation staff, the City Attorney, the county coroner, EMS providers, the hospital trauma center and researchers. The board reviews every fatal crash in the county with a mandate to learn what can be done to prevent similar crashes from occurring in the future.
According to Franklin County Safe Roads Program Manager Anna Piper, the involvement of stakeholders from around the county with different perspectives is key to the program’s success, allowing the group to go much deeper in its analysis, recommendations and actions than would be possible with transportation staff working in isolation.
“Law enforcement plays a critical role in this process, not only through traditional enforcement but also as ‘eyes and ears’ on the roadway, helping identify patterns, behaviors and environmental factors that may not be captured in data alone. This insight supports more proactive, upstream strategies, including roadway design changes, policy adjustments, and targeted interventions aimed at preventing crashes before they occur.”
– Anna Piper, Franklin County Safe Roads Program Manager, Columbus Public Health
It is infrastructure, not solely policing, that brings lasting results.
Speed cameras are useful – but don’t end up changing drivers’ behavior long-term once the cameras are removed. By constrast, raised pedestrian crossings or bump outs (that jut into the road) visibly demonstrate that pedestrian safety is a priority and induce drivers to reduce their speeds so as not to damage their cars.
Data is needed so the right policies can be put in place.
Traffic monitoring and responses shouldn’t be based on gut feelings but on data that is shared among agencies.
Oakland, California’s analysis of its data found that 74% of severe and fatal crashes were correlated with only a few dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, failure to yield, unsafe turning and disobeying signs and signals. This information has led to law enforcement personnel focusing on those behaviors.
#Policies need to be updated to designate non-safety issues as secondary offenses that cannot be the cause of a traffic stop. Though of course if a car is stopped for safety-related reasons, police can then add the secondary violations to the list of offenses.
#Data will also help prevent reactive policing. After a fatality, community members may call for increased ticketing on that roadway, even if that is not the best use of police staffing.
Law enforcement is an important ally and contributor to safer roads. Along with proper infrastructure, good data, better policies and community and state agencies working together, police officers can help Vision Zero be achieved.