Vision for Transportation Safety: A Framework for Identifying Best Practice Strategies to Advance Vision Zero

In this article, the authors present the Traffic Safety Best Practices Matrix, a tool to help United States cities identify the landscape of strategies being used domestically and internationally to advance Vision Zero, as pioneered by Sweden. Many cities across the United States have expressed an interest in Vision Zero with a growing number passing policies calling for the elimination of traffic-related fatalities over the next decade. Despite the increase in interest, little guidance exists around what Vision Zero is and what actions could be implemented to help realize zero deaths. The Matrix, which culls together the results of an extensive examination of the measures that cities and countries are pursuing to reduce traffic-related fatalities and improve safety, attempts to bridge this gap by presenting a framework that cities can use to identify effective strategies, benchmark their efforts relative to other jurisdictions, and reach out to cities/countries pursing Vision Zero policies for additional information. The authors offer an analysis of the Matrix, focusing on three categories: measures with 1) widespread adoption, 2) limited implementation, and 3) minimal utilization. The authors discuss how these findings can inform next steps for Vision Zero implementation, with a focus on implications for U.S. cities. The main recommendations are to develop mechanisms that institutionalize Vision Zero across sectors, focus education on supporting changes in organizational practices and policy reform, improve collaboration across all levels of government, explore technology that meets the unique needs of cities, and create data systems that facilitate accountability and encourage public participation.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • When this paper is published in the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (TRR) the DOI will be 10.3141/2582-09. This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE30 Standing Committee on Transportation Issues in Major Cities.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Fleisher, Arielle
  • Wier, Megan
  • Hunter, Mari
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 26p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Fatalities; Highway safety; Strategic planning; Traffic safety; Urban areas
• Identifier Terms: Vision Zero
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01590393
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-3828
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 17 2016 12:00PM