User talk:BrettEMay/sandbox

Initial Contributions

Introduction:

Vision Zero is a Swedish-born policy with a vision to reduce traffic related fatalities to zero hence the name, Vision Zero. Thousands of Americans die every year due to traffic fatalities and the lack of road infrastructure so, Vision Zero was brought to America in hopes to achieve the same success that Europe has. Cities like New York, Portland and Austin have adopted some sort of Vision Zero policy and have seen much success. Through scholarly articles and journals we intend to dive into the idea of where Vision Zero came from, where the success of Vision Zero stands today and the affect its’ had in major cities and why it’s important in todays’ society.

The responsibility of road safety has traditionally been placed on the individual road user rather than on the designers of the system. Road safety has tended to focus on encouraging good behaviour by road users via licensing, testing, education, training and publicity. Sweden is among those countries with the lowest number of traffic fatalities in relation to its population. However, in spite of this excellent record, in 1997 the Swedish Parliament introduced a new approach to road safety called “Vision Zero”. Vision Zero is based on a refusal to accept human deaths or lifelong suffering as a result of road traffic accidents (Elvik and Amundsen, 2000). It requires moving the emphasis away from reducing the number of accidents to eliminating the risk of chronic health impairment caused by road accidents. Vision Zero in Sweden requires fatalities and serious injuries to be reduced to zero by 2020.

The 1990 Swedish National Traffic Safety Programme set a target of less than 600 fatalities for traffic safety by 2000. In 1993, the Road Safety Office merged and became the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA). In 1994 the SNRA, now responsible for national traffic safety work, presented a National Traffic Safety Programme for the period 1995–2000. A new target of 400 fatalities for the year 2000 was adopted. This original target was achieved in 1994. The intentions of the National Traffic Safety Programme, with ten sub-targets for traffic behaviour, were not reached but abandoned with the discussion of the Vision Zero concept. An interim target of reducing the number of road accident fatalities from 600 in 2000 to 270 in 2007 was adopted as a move towards the Vision Zero target. The annual number of fatalities has remained constant during the period 1994 to 2004. In 2004, there were 480 deaths (EC, 2004).

Vision Zero requires a paradigm shift in addressing the issue of road safety (Rechnitzer and Grzebieta, 1999). It requires abandoning the traditional economic model where road safety is provided at reasonable cost and the traditional transport model in which safety must be balanced against mobility. At the core of the Vision Zero is the biomechanical tolerance of human beings. Vision Zero promotes a road system where crash energy cannot exceed human tolerance. While it is accepted that crashes in the transport system occur due to human error, Vision Zero requires no crash should be more severe than the tolerance of humans. The blame for fatalities in the road system is assigned to the failure of the road system rather that the road user (Wadhwa, 2001).

Vision Zero is based on the ethical imperative that (Tingvall and Haworth, 1999): “It can never be ethically acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the road system.”

Accidents have to be prevented from leading to fatalities and serious injuries by designing roads, vehicles and transport services in a way that someone can tolerate the violence of an accident without being killed or seriously injured. Common long-term disabling injuries and non-injury accidents are outside the scope of the vision. Vision Zero is estimated to achieve a possible reduction in the number of fatalities by a quarter to one third over a ten-year period (SNRA, 2003).

Vision Zero strategic principles are: • The traffic system has to adapt to take better account of the needs, mistakes and vulnerabilities of road users. • The level of violence that the human body can tolerate without being killed or seriously injured forms the basic parameter in the design of the road transport system. • Vehicle speed is the most important regulating factor for safe road traffic. It should be determined by the technical standards for roads and vehicles so as not to exceed the level of violence that the human body can tolerate. The approach is: • To create a road environment that minimises the risk of road users making mistakes and that prevents serious human injury when designing, operating and maintaining the state road network. • To set an example in the SNRA’s own operations through the quality assurance (from a road safety perspective) of journeys and transports in all areas of activity, both those undertaken in-house and those contracted. • To analyse accidents that have resulted in death or serious injury in traffic and, where feasible, initiate suitable measures so as to avoid the repetition of such accidents. • To stimulate all players within the road transport system to work resolutely towards achieving mutually targeted objectives and conduct the work on road safety in close co-operation with all players within the road transport system. • To take advantage of, and further develop, the commitment of the general public to safer traffic.

Vision Zero emphasises what the optimum state of the road should be rather than possible ways of reducing current problems. The main change instigated by Vision Zero is a new way of dividing responsibilities for road safety. Rather than emphasising the responsibility of the road user alone, Vision Zero explicitly states that responsibility is shared both by the system designers and the road user:

1. The designers of the system are always ultimately responsible for the design, operation and use of the road transport system and thereby responsible for the level of safety within the entire system. 2. Road users are responsible for following the rules for using the road transport system set by the system designers. 3. If road users fail to obey these rules due to lack of knowledge, acceptance or ability, or if injuries occur, the system designers are required to take necessary further steps to counteract people being killed or seriously injured.

In 1999, a short-term action plan was launched by the Swedish government, containing 11 points aimed at strengthening and stimulating traffic safety work in accordance with Vision Zero principles (Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, 1999):

1. A focus on the most dangerous roads (e.g. priority for installing centre-guardrails for eliminating head-on collisions, removing obstacles next to roads, etc.) 2. Safer traffic in built-up areas (e.g. a safety analysis of street networks in 102 municipalities led to reconstruction of streets; the efforts are continuing.) 3. Emphasis on the responsibilities of road users (e.g. creating more respect for traffic rules in particular with regard to speed limits, seat belt use, and intoxicated driving.) 4. Safe bicycle traffic (e.g. campaign for using bicycle helmets, a voluntary bicycle safety standard.) 5. Quality assurance in transport work (e.g. public agencies with large transportation needs will receive traffic safety (and environmental impact) instructions on how to assure the quality of their own transportation services and those procured from outside firms.) 6. Winter tyre requirement (e.g. a new law mandating specific tyres under winter road conditions.) 7. Making better use of Swedish technology (e.g. promoting the introduction of technology - available or to be developed - that relatively soon can be applied, such as seat belt reminders, in-car speed adaptation systems (ISA), alcohol ignition interlocks for preventing drinking and driving, and electronic driver licences.) 8. Responsibilities of road transport system designers (e.g. establishment of an independent organisation for road traffic inspection is proposed by a commission of inquiry on the responsibilities of the public sector and the business community for safe road traffic.) 9. Public responses to traffic violations (e.g. a commission of inquiry is reviewing existing traffic violation rules in the light of the Vision Zero principles and of ensuring due process of law.) 10. The role of voluntary organisations (e.g. the government is evaluating the road safety work of the 'Nationalföreningen för trafiksäkerhetens främjande' (National Society for Road Safety (NTF)) and its use of state funds.) 11. Alternative forms of financing new roads (e.g. possibilities are studied for other forms of supplementing public financing of major road projects.) 10 In the autumn of 2001 the Government presented an infrastructure plan, where the traffic safety work will fulfil the 2007 target Current State of Vision Zero

Vision Zero programs emerged from Sweden and now have now been implemented in more cities in the US. The outcomes of Vision Zero are showing that tremendous improvement in safety is possible through data analytics, better street design, targeted enforcement, collaborative education, removing policy barriers, and deploying crash avoidance technologies. Vision Zero’s effectiveness comes from a “safety first” initiative among city officials, roadway designers, traffic, vehicle manufacturers, government regulators, educators, public health officials, community advocates, and the public. Many cities in both the US and the UK have adopted the movement in hopes of decreasing the amount of traffic related injuries and death.

Cities

Austin is ranked as the 13th most dangerous city for traffic for cities with census over 500K. Since 2004, over 700 people have died on Austin roads. 4 San Mateo is the third city in California to adopt the Vision Zero policy. Between two and four people are killed and 40 people are injured by car drivers while walking in San Mateo each year. Portland’s traffic fatality rate is among the lowest including the number of pedestrians and motorists killed on roadways each year. An average of 37 Portlanders died in traffic collisions annually. Traffic collisions are a leading cause of death for Seattle residents age 5-24. Older adults are also disproportionately affected, and as our population ages, this trend could grow. Instead of issuing an “estimated end goal,” San Jose officials say that they plan to implement Vision Zero immediately. . The City Council’s vote is setting Santa Barbara on the course toward the goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Eighty-one people died while walking and driving the streets of San Diego in 2013. Approximately $745.2 million was spent on the recorded deaths and injuries with the cost of these deaths borne by governmental agencies, crash victims, and the general public.

Current State of Vision Zero

Vision Zero programs emerged from Sweden and now have now been implemented in more cities in the US. The outcomes of Vision Zero are showing that tremendous improvement in safety is possible through data analytics, better street design, targeted enforcement, collaborative education, removing policy barriers, and deploying crash avoidance technologies. Vision Zero’s effectiveness comes from a “safety first” initiative among city officials, roadway designers, traffic, vehicle manufacturers, government regulators, educators, public health officials, community advocates, and the public. Many cities in both the US and the UK have adopted the movement in hopes of decreasing the amount of traffic related injuries and death.

The Future of Vision Zero

Many cities across the world are either interested in, or are currently planning to institute Vision Zero. Some cities are looking at instituting Vision Zero not only for motorists, but also for bicyclists, in an effort to help make their streets safer for both. According to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in Executive Directive No. 10, Los Angeles is instituting Vision Zero, and has a plan to eliminate deaths on their transportation system by 2025. In his directive, Garcetti states that people walking or riding a bicycle make up 56 percent of people killed and severely injured in traffic collisions. He also explains that 6 percent of LA’s total street mileage accounts for 65 percent of all pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and injuries. Los Angeles’ goal is to target all traffic crashes and fatalities, with an emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle fatalities (1-2). Other major American cities are also currently in the process of, or are planning to institute a Vision Zero process, including New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin. The idea and concept of Vision Zero is important in today’s society as it helps residents identify a significant problem with traffic safety on our roads. It is also important because, while implementing Vision Zero will not immediately reach the desired effect of no more fatalities on the transportation grid; cities that have been instituting Vision Zero have shown an immediate and continued reduction in traffic related fatalities. New York City implemented Vision Zero in January of 2014, and according to the New York Daily News, at the end of 2014, had the lowest number of pedestrian fatalities since 1910. A reduction in pedestrian deaths that large, should give hope to other cities not only across the United States, but across the world, that Vision Zero can be successful. Donohue, P. (December 30, 2014). “Pedestrian Traffic Deaths Hit Record Low in New York City”,