Vision Zero is working says New York mayor, announces more funding

According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, 2015 was officially the safest year on New York City streets since record-keeping began in 1910, thanks to the city’s Vision Zero program.He said the 231 traffic fatalities in 2015 are 66 lower than the 297 fatalities that occurred in 2013, the year before Vision Zero began. Pedestrian deaths, a historic low of 134 in 2015, fell 27 per cent during that period. The previous lows were 2011 with 249 traffic fatalities and 2014 with 139 pedestrian fatalities.
January 22, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, 2015 was officially the safest year on New York City streets since record-keeping began in 1910, thanks to the city’s Vision Zero program.

He said the 231 traffic fatalities in 2015 are 66 lower than the 297 fatalities that occurred in 2013, the year before Vision Zero began. Pedestrian deaths, a historic low of 134 in 2015, fell 27 per cent during that period. The previous lows were 2011 with 249 traffic fatalities and 2014 with 139 pedestrian fatalities. In comparison, based on 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, US pedestrian fatalities increased three per cent in 2014 and are estimated to have increased again in 2015.

The Mayor pledged to take Vision Zero further in 2016 by unveiling US$115 million in new capital investment for plans to calm traffic, as well as expanded efforts to crack down on dangerous driving, make hazardous left-turns safer and expand enforcement.

“We are serious about saving lives. Vision Zero is working. Today there are children and grandparents who we might have lost, but who are instead coming home, safe and sound, because of these efforts. This progress is just the beginning, and Vision Zero is going to move ahead with even more intensity in the coming year,” said de Blasio.

The US$115 million in new capital investment includes nearly US$59.4 million for safe routes to schools at 37 schools around the city; US$29.6 million for area-wide improvements in Long Island City; US$4.1 million in additional funds for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway project; and US$22 million for projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Far Rockaway.

Specific priorities for 2016 include traffic calming measures on key thoroughfares and safer cycle routes. The city is also piloting a 100-intersection initiative to test safer left turn designs and plans to increase the use of speed cameras to target times and locations where crashes most often occur.

Urban Traffic Control Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • How can US transportation be ‘re-envisioned’?
    October 17, 2019
    In her address to this year’s ITS America Annual Meeting, congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, called for a ‘re-envisioning’ of transportation. Her speech is below – and ITS International asks a number of US experts what they would like to see ‘re-envisioned’…

    I would like to welcome  ITS America to the nation’s capital.

    Read More
  • Secretary Foxx sends six-year transportation bill to Congress
    March 31, 2015
    Over the past year, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. Foxx has now sent to Congress his solution to this problem: a long-term transportation bill that provides funding growth and certainty so that state and local governments can get back in the business of building things again. The Grow America Act reflects President Obama’s vision for a six-year, US$478 billion
    Read More
  • Mayor sets out bold vision for 13 new river crossings for London
    December 4, 2015
    A bold vision to transform cross-river travel in London has been unveiled by the Mayor of London. A total of 13 new tunnels and bridges have been proposed as part of the Mayor’s vision for the future of the Capital, increasing the total number of river crossings between Imperial Wharf and Dartford by more than a third, and the number for pedestrian and cyclists by nearly 50 per cent. The proposals, which would cater for both public transport and road users, are detailed in a new strategic plan that
    Read More
  • Why integrated traffic management needs a cohesive approach
    April 10, 2012
    Traffic control is increasingly being viewed as one essential element of a wider ‘system of systems’ – the smart city. Jason Barnes, Jon Masters and David Crawford report on latest ideas and efforts for making cities ‘smarter’ Virtually every element of the fabric and utilitarian operations that make urban areas tick can now be found somewhere in the mix that is the ‘smart city’ agenda. Ideas have expanded and projects pursued in different directions as the rhetoric on making cities ‘smarter’ has grown. App
    Read More

Highlighted Content