About Vision Zero

What is Vision Zero?

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Vision Zero describes a shift in transportation mindset and approach. It’s a strategy to end traffic fatalities and reduce severe injuries by increasing safe, healthy and equitable mobility for all. Vision Zero is based on five key principles:

● Traffic deaths and severe injuries are preventable.
● Human life and health are prioritized within all aspects of transportation systems.
● Human error is inevitable, and transportation systems should be forgiving.
● Safety work should focus on systems-level change above influencing individual behavior.
● Speed is recognized as the fundamental factor in crash severity.

How will Vision Zero get to zero deaths?

Making our streets safer requires shifting the status quo and taking a long-term approach in how we think about our streets. Here are some fundamental ways Vision Zero shifts the mindset and process.

1. Facilitate coordination and collaboration critical to address our roadways

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In the past, it was unusual to see a broad range of collaboration  on traffic safety or road design. Vision Zero aims to bring County and Township leadership and staff together including engineers, planners, policy makers, police and fire departments, as well as community stakeholders to work towards the same goal: No traffic fatalities and severe injuries on our roadways.

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2. Traditional road design accepts traffic deaths and injuries as inevitable

Vision Zero reframes this mindset by saying traffic deaths and severe injuries are avoidable.

We assume safety is built into our street design, but the reality is it’s not. Traditional road design prioritizes moving cars from point A to B as fast as possible. Roads are designed with wider lanes and longer, straight stretches to move large volumes of cars quickly, often encouraging drivers to go speeds much higher than posted speed limits.

This comes at a high cost. Speed is the single most significant factor in crash severity. For a pedestrian hit by a car, the difference of 5 mph could determine whether they survive or not. The risk of fatality or severe injury increases at higher speeds as does the driver’s reaction time and distance a car is thrown out of control. The driver’s field of vision is reduced exacerbating their ability to see pedestrians in the first place.

On Montclair’s dense, residential streets a lack of protected infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians combined with roads designed to encourage unsafe speeds increases the dangers for both drivers and pedestrians. And yet, even on roads or intersections with a history of repeated crashes, it is difficult to make infrastructure changes because of crash quotas that must be met. Oftentimes, action is triggered only after someone is severely injured or killed.

Vision Zero, says this is UNACCEPTABLE. Traffic deaths and severe injuries are avoidable on our streets.

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3. We can create safer roads and transportation systems by design

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Instead of blaming traffic crashes and fatalities on the individual behaviors of both drivers and pedestrians, Vision Zero accepts that people make mistakes. People also have the most to lose. Vision Zero uses the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Systems Approach to minimize harm and severity of injury when mistakes do happen. It does this by both identifying the root cause of the crashes and taking a systems level approach, which includes addressing overall street design, adding traffic calming elements  for self-enforcement, reducing driving speeds, and overall education among other things. While the Safe Systems Approach is our broad strategy, Complete & Green Streets are our method to make our streets safer. It comes down to how we use the streets, not only as drivers, but as pedestrians too. It’s a complete way of seeing our streets.  

Safe Systems Approach        Complete & Green Streets          Home

4. Data-based decision making

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A major shift in process involves identifying our most dangerous streets and collecting specific data around these high crash corridors to analyze, prioritize and create proactive action plans. Instead of reacting to severe crashes and fatalities in a piecemeal fashion, we can wholistically approach all of Montclair’s streets and implement solutions in an equitable and fair way.

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5. Proactive plans and policies

Once we’ve mapped out our crash and high injury/fatality data, we will develop Action Plans and policies to address:

1) high crash corridors

2) vulnerable road users and

3) establish Montclair’s Complete and Green Streets SAFE network for all road users.

Click the links below to learn more.

Montclair's Data          Montclair's Legislation          Complete & Green Streets Policy          Home

6. Quick build Demonstration Projects

Traditionally, roads are seen as static and any infrastructure change is mired in years of bureaucracy. Vision Zero takes a more progressive approach by setting up temporary and inexpensive Demonstration Projects. A project could be a protected bike lane or bump-out curbs adjacent to an elementary school. With paint, bollards and planters, drivers and residents can see solutions in action. It builds consensus and community support for longer term infrastructure changes. 

Learn more about upcoming Demonstration Projects

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