Speed Management Projects – West Palm Beach, Florida

Vision Zero Success Story – Infrastructure

Background

In August 2018, West Palm Beach became the fourth jurisdiction in Florida to adopt the Vision Zero initiative. The City focused on speed management as part of its Vision Zero efforts. As part of this focus, the City identified three speed management projects, all centered around reducing speeds and creating a safer space for pedestrians and bicyclists. These projects were initially developed under the City’s bicycle master plan and prioritized under Vision Zero.

One of the three projects was along Okeechobee Boulevard, where 33 percent of the crashes in the downtown area occurred. Forty-five percent of the crashes that occurred on Okeechobee Boulevard occurred during either the morning or afternoon peak hour. Fifty-two percent of the bicycle or pedestrian-involved crashes occurred at night.

Traffic Safety Camera Program – Portland, Oregon

Vision Zero Success Story – Behavioral

Background

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) implemented the traffic safety camera program in 2016 to reduce speeding in neighborhoods and save lives. The traffic safety cameras were installed along corridors in the City’s High Crash Network. The High Crash Network included 30 streets; a composite of the top 20 high crash streets for driving, the top 20 for bicycling, and the top 20 for walking. The City identified four corridors for the traffic safety cameras:

• SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
• SE Division Street.
• SE 122nd Avenue.
• NE Marine Drive.

By early 2018, PBOT installed eight (8) systems along the four (4) high crash corridors enforcing each direction of travel. In advance of each traffic safety camera, a speed reader board (SRB) displayed a driver’s speed. When drivers exceeded the posted speed limit, the traffic safety camera system engaged and photographed the driver and the front and rear of the vehicle.

Media Campaign – Boulder, Colorado

Vision Zero Success Story – Communications & Outreach

Background

In 2017, the City of Boulder developed and implemented a robust communication and outreach program, called “Heads Up Boulder,” to continue its goal of eliminating all serious traffic crashes involving all modes of transportation. The City also aimed to increase Vision Zero awareness and enhance public involvement.

The City promoted Vision Zero safety education campaigns across multiple social media platforms and at community events. The communication ranged from traditional outlets (high visibility bus ads and television interviews) to social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat).

“Heads Up Boulder” aimed to build greater awareness of traffic safety citywide and for all users of the transportation system. In addition, the campaign focused on 18-24 year olds. This population is the age group involved in the most crashes. The City developed tailored outreach programs to reach this demographic. For instance, due to the popularity of the Snapchat mobile application platform with this target audience, the City developed ads specifically for the platform.

The City also partnered with local advocacy groups and the University of Colorado Boulder to increase the influence of the campaigns, as many of the crashes involving 18-24 year old persons occurred near the University.

Safest Driver Contest – Boston, Massachusetts

Vision Zero Success Story – Behavioral

Background

The City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) championed the inaugural “Safest Driver Contest.” As a partnership between the Vision Zero Task Force, MONUM, and the Transportation Department, the Safest Driver Contest held its first season in 2016 and a second season in 2019. Similar contests have been held in other cities including Seattle, San Antonio, and Los Angeles.

The contest aimed to change driver behavior by offering incentives to participants who adopted safe practices while behind the wheel. Participants downloaded an app that used five performance evaluation metrics to assess each driver including braking, acceleration, speeding, cornering, and distraction. The app made calculations for these metrics based on the phone’s GPS, accelerometer, and gyroscope. The app collected and stored the monitored behaviors of individual drivers for each trip.

Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force and Speed Limit Setting Report – California

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.

Rainier Avenue South Redesign – Seattle, Washington

Vision Zero Success Story – Infrastructure

Background

The Rainier Valley neighborhood located in southeast Seattle is home to one of the City’s most culture-rich and diverse populations. Rainier Avenue South is a principal arterial street that connects residents and communities along the former regional rail corridor. The area surrounding Rainier Avenue South includes many land uses like retail, schools, and parks. These uses are pertinent to pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers.

It was also the corridor with the highest number of traffic crashes in Seattle; the corridor had a per mile crash rate that is greater than other streets in the City that carry more than twice the volume of traffic as on Rainier Ave South. The City launched Vision Zero efforts in 2014, one of which was working with the community to redesign a one-mile segment of the eight-mile corridor for the pilot phase of the Rainier Avenue South Corridor Safety Project. The City implemented changes to the piloted segment between South Alaska Street and South Kenny Street over a weekend in August 2015.

Rainier Avenue South carries over 13,000 people daily on transit, is a freight and emergency response route, and serves between 19,700 and 26,600 vehicles each weekday. Studies in the corridor show that between 1,000 and 2,000 vehicles per day travel along the corridor at a speed greater than 10 miles above the 30 miles per hour (mph) posted speed limit. The total average number of annual crashes over the 10 years prior to the redesign was 95 crashes, 9 serious injury crashes, and 1 fatality crash.

Systemic Safety Analysis – San Diego, California

Vision Zero Success Story – Data

Background

In 2015, the City of San Diego adopted a Vision Zero approach to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on City streets by 2025. This approach included the development and implementation of strategies in the areas of engineering, enforcement, and education. A key element of the City’s Vision Zero program was to use data to select projects with the greatest safety benefit. This data-driven philosophy was encapsulated in the City’s Systemic Safety Analysis Reporting Program (SSARP). The Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at the University of California, Berkeley assisted with the development of SSARP, which included standardizing processes to perform crash analyses, identifying safety issues, and developing a list of low-cost proven safety countermeasures. The systemic safety approach evaluated the City’s entire roadway network, rather than individual high-crash locations, and identified high-risk roadway features correlated with common crash types.

Missouri: Road to Saving Lives Design-Build Project

• The Safety Concern: In the last decade, 8,752 motorists have died on Missouri’s roads, leaving the state searching for an effective way to implement its Toward Zero Deaths strategy.
• The Solution: Five Design-Build teams competed in a unique procurement process to offer MoDOT the most cost-effective safety treatments based on Highway Safety Manual analysis.
• The Result: A winning bid to address improvements at all 31 identified locations, projected to prevent 73 deaths and serious injuries over 10 years and be completed nine months ahead of schedule.

(2017 National Roadway Safety Awards - Winner)

Road Safety Improvement Program – Garfield County, WA

Despite a commitment to work with Federal and State Agencies to make roadway safety a top priority and move “Towards Zero Deaths” (TZD), Garfield County, WA lacked a data-driven, systematic process for identifying and addressing crash patterns and safety improvement needs on the county roadway network. This was of particular concern for Garfield County, which is a small rural jurisdiction with limited resources to invest in capital projects. Fully committing to goals set forth for the TZD initiative required establishment of a plan that identified feasible goals, applicable countermeasures, and efficient processes to prioritize investments.

(2019 National Roadway Safety Awards - Honorable Mention)

Hillsborough MPO Vision Zero Action Plan Incorporates Multidisciplinary Approach to Safety Improvements

Background

The Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) developed the Vision Zero Action Plan to incorporate safety planning into its operations. The MPO took a multidisciplinary approach to safety improvements.