Chicago pushes traffic safety plan for ‘poorer’ areas

The city of Chicago has unveiled a plan to help improve traffic safety in its poorer areas, focusing on the south and west sides. Mayor Lori Lightfoot says studies show that residents living in communities experiencing “economic hardship” are three times more likely to die as a result of a traffic crash. “We must change how we design and use streets, as any traffic-related death is unacceptable when we, as a city, have the tools and strategies to prevent the conditions that lead to these tragedies,” Ligh
October 2, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The city of Chicago has unveiled a plan to help improve traffic safety in its poorer areas, focusing on the south and west sides.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says studies show that residents living in communities experiencing “economic hardship” are three times more likely to die as a result of a traffic crash.

 “We must change how we design and use streets, as any traffic-related death is unacceptable when we, as a city, have the tools and strategies to prevent the conditions that lead to these tragedies,” Lightfoot adds.

The Vision Zero West Side Plan includes recommendations for improving traffic flow and pedestrian safety in East and West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and Auston. These include safety improvements around transit stations, efforts to encourage safe transportation to and from school and increased infrastructure investments.

It follows an initial action plan in 2017 that used crash data to identify 43 high crash corridors and eight high crash corridors in Chicago - seven of which were on the west and south side of the city.

Walter Burnett Junior, alderman for Chicago’s 27th ward, says: “These incidents are preventable, and the west side plan is the first step in reducing the amount of injuries and fatalities in our neighbourhoods.”

The plan was developed with input from people living in the city, including contributions from the Garfield Park Community Council, the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, Lawndale Christian Health Center, Build and Austin Coming Together.

The Chicago Department of Health’s acting commissioner Allison Arwady says: "With community members weighing in on traffic safety in their neighbourhoods, we’re ensuring our street designs become safer and making it second nature to look out for each other.”

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Siemens enforcement solution for London primary schools made permanent
    October 18, 2018
    Siemens Mobility says a pilot scheme to improve road safety outside three UK primary schools has been made permanent. Siemens is monitoring newly-created pedestrian zones outside schools in the London borough of Croydon by deploying an solution which is more commonly used to enforce bus lanes and moving traffic contraventions. The system, which uses automatic number plate recognition technology and features Siemens ITS LaneWatch cameras, operates during the morning and afternoon school runs. It appears
    Read More
  • Emissions reductions targets to have major impact on transport
    October 28, 2015
    As bold moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in California, David Crawford looks at the ramifications for transportation. California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent dramatic raising of the bar on emissions reduction policy for the state has won him praise from Japan, Australia, Europe and the secretariat of the critical UN conference on climate change being held in Paris in November/December 2015. His April 2015 executive order aimed at bringing emissions to 40% below 1990 lev
    Read More
  • Redflex: ‘Consistency of enforcement will drive compliance’
    August 7, 2020
    Mark Talbot, CEO of Redflex Holdings, puts himself in the ITS International hotseat to answer questions about leveraging technology, MaaS changes and new areas of business
    Read More
  • Phoenix renews Redflex Traffic Systems contract
    October 24, 2014
    The city of Phoenix, Arizona, has selected Redflex Traffic Systems, which has partnered with the city since 2009, to continue providing automated enforcement for its road safety program. Phoenix uses 12 red-light cameras at key intersections and deploys eight school-zone speed vans that rotate around the Phoenix schools to help enforce school speed limits, the release states.
    Read More

Highlighted Content