Skip to main content

Washington releases Vision Zero Action Plan

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, in conjunction with the Department of Transportation (DDOT) the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and other city officials, has releases the District’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries to people walkers, cyclists and drivers by 2024. The Plan is the result of an extensive planning process involving 30 government agencies, community groups and residents. It places a high priority on making safety improvements and ref
December 18, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, in conjunction with the Department of Transportation (DDOT) the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and other city officials, has releases the District’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries to people walkers, cyclists and drivers by 2024.  
 
The Plan is the result of an extensive planning process involving 30 government agencies, community groups and residents.  It places a high priority on making safety improvements and refining how the city monitors and addresses hazardous street conditions.  During the planning process, residents reported more than 4,500 hazardous locations.  Those sites can now be mapped along with historical crash data to inform the District’s engineering, education, and enforcement efforts.
 
Widespread public feedback has confirmed some of the root causes of severe traffic crashes in the District. 45 per cent of residents surveyed knew someone who had been killed or seriously injured in a crash. Across all eight wards, residents also advised that their primary concerns are speeding drivers, distracted drivers, and people ignoring traffic signals.
 
The Action Plan outlines the strategies, time frames and agencies responsible for implementing programs to improve traffic safety regardless of where or how travellers move throughout the District. The plan serves as the playbook for the first years of the initiative and incorporates legislative and regulatory proposals already released by the Administration.
 
The District joins a growing list of US cities that have formally committed to goal of zero traffic fatalities, as well as over 230 other communities that have signed onto the U.S. Secretary of Transportation’s Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets. The initiative aims to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation safety by showcasing effective local actions, empowering local leaders to take action, and promoting partnerships to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety.
 
“Vision Zero is our strategic roadmap to eliminate fatalities and injuries on District streets by 2024,” said Mayor Bowser. “But this is just the first step.  Now that we have a smart plan, we will make the necessary changes to our street network so that residents, workers and visitors can safely navigate our great city.”
 
“Protecting vulnerable travellers through speed reduction is a strong theme through our Action Plan,” said DDOT director Leif Dormsjo. “Through extensive public outreach and collaboration, we are taking our first step towards realizing a ‘Vision Zero’ where no lives are lost on our streets or at our intersections. Together, we will make the District a safer place to live and travel through.”

Related Content

  • April 2, 2013
    Australia’s NRMA welcomes road safety funding boost
    Australia’s National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA) has praised the New South Wales (NSW) government's plan to use revenue raised by speed cameras to help boost funding for road safety programs by US$7.3 million. The new Safer Roads Program is part of the Centre for Road Safety's state-wide strategy aimed at cutting the state's road toll by thirty per cent by 2021. The additional funds will see a total of US$37.6 million a year spent on works in areas where the worst crashes are occurring, with the
  • March 18, 2020
    VRU safety report urges enforcement
    Enforcement must be at the heart of a drive to reduce vulnerable road user deaths and injuries, says the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council. Its facts and figures give authorities the justification to invest more in camera technology and other ITS solutions
  • June 20, 2016
    Regulating rural road use
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
  • June 26, 2015
    London buses to trial speed safety technology
    New technology that is designed to reduce speeds and increase vehicle safety will be trialled on London’s buses next month, as part of the Mayor and Transport for London’s (TfL) continuing work to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on London’s roads. The Mayor and TfL announced today that intelligent speed adaptation (ISA), an innovative technology that ensures vehicles can’t exceed speed limits, will be trialled on 47 London buses in a UK-first. The new technology, which was outli