Vision Zero Success Story – Partnerships

Background

Motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of unintentional injuries and deaths among all age groups in the United States. In 2017, approximately 3,600 deaths and over 14,000 serious injuries occurred as a result of traffic collisions in California, costing the State over $53.5 billion. Twenty-six percent of the collisions were speeding-related, which included vehicle speeds that were unsafe for conditions or in excess of the speed limit.

This spurred the legislature into action and in 2018, the California Assembly signed Assembly Bill 2363. This Bill required the establishment of a Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force. The Task Force aimed to evaluate the ways in which speed limits are set in California, suggested alternatives to the current speed-limit-setting process (85th-percentile method), and proposed policies to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. AB 2363 directed the California Secretary of Transportation to publish a Report of Findings following the conclusion of the Task Force activities and submit it to the Legislature.