Vision Zero Detroit

From the Vision Zero Network website:

Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. First implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, Vision Zero has proved successful across Europe — and now it’s gaining momentum in major American cities.

Vision Zero starts with the ethical belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities, and that system designers and policy makers share the responsibility to ensure safe systems for travel.

Vision Zero is a significant departure from the status quo in two major ways:

  • Vision Zero recognizes that people will sometimes make mistakes, so the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities. This means that system designers and policymakers are expected to improve the roadway environment, policies (such as speed management), and other related systems to lessen the severity of crashes.
  • Vision Zero is a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together diverse and necessary stakeholders to address this complex problem. In the past, meaningful, cross-disciplinary collaboration among local traffic planners and engineers, policymakers, and public health professionals has not been the norm. Vision Zero acknowledges that many factors contribute to safe mobility — including roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology, and policies — and sets clear goals to achieve the shared goal of zero fatalities and severe injuries.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities for Speed Related Fatalities, 2016

Vision Zero Detroit

We believe Detroit should pursue the standards for Vision Zero Cities. Detroit’s pedestrian crash rate is among the highest for US cities. It’s total traffic fatalities is very high, averaging 115 deaths each year since 2012. During this same time period, Detroit had a significantly higher traffic fatality rate (traffic deaths per 100,000 residents):

  • New York City**: 2.8
  • Washington DC**: 3.6
  • Chicago**: 3.7
  • Los Angeles**: 6.8
  • Cleveland: 8.8
  • Atlanta: 11.8
  • Detroit: 16.8

** = Vision Zero City

Detroit is not a recognized Vision Zero City based on the minimum standards of the Vision Zero Network given a public commitment from the mayor. However, the Vision Zero model is very much a part of the city’s Streets for People Plan.

Council Resolution

Detroit City Council has also unamimously passed this resolution in support of Vision Zero on July 1, 2022:

RESOLUTION URGING THE MAYOR, CHIEF OF POLICE, CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICER, AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS TO ADOPT A “VISION ZERO” STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENT AN ACTION PLAN

BY COUNCIL MEMBER LATISHA JOHNSON

WHEREAS An average of 126 people die on Detroit roads each year with another 607 sustaining significant injuries; and

WHEREAS The City of Detroit’s Strategic Plan for Transportation includes the goal of making its streets safer for all modes of travel through the adoption of a traffic fatality reduction target; and

WHEREAS The City of Detroit’s Sustainability Action Agenda includes the goal of making it easier and safer to get around Detroit without a personal vehicle by implementing safety
measures to reduce crash severity; and

WHEREAS The City of Detroit worked with residents to develop a Streets for People Plan addressing safer streets which is in draft form waiting to be finalized; and

WHEREAS Detroit residents have supported speed humps, streetscapes, and other traffic calming road designs to improve safety; and

WHEREAS The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recognizes road safety as a public health issue and actively supports Vision Zero efforts in the U.S.; and

WHEREAS the 2015 U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted the goal of Vision Zero stating that no loss of life is acceptable on our cities’ streets; and

WHEREAS the Michigan Department of Transportation has stated their commitment to reduce serious injuries and eliminate road fatalities; and

WHEREAS through the 2022 National Roadway Safety Strategy, the U.S. DOT adopted the Safe Systems Approach as the guiding paradigm to address road safety, including the principle that death and serious injuries are unacceptable; and

WHEREAS the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law establishes a Safe Streets for All grant program that funds Vision Zero plans and their implementation; and

WHEREAS Vision Zero can be primarily implemented through infrastructure investment with
and law enforcement focusing on reckless and dangerous driving behaviors; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED THAT The Detroit City Council urges the Mayor, the Chief Public Health Officer, the Chief of Police, and the Director of Public Works to:

  • Create a multi-departmental Vision Zero work group that includes additional stakeholders and advocates to help guide and advance this work.
  • Adopt a Vision Zero strategy and implement a comprehensive safety action plan to reduce traffic fatalities to zero in the next ten years.
  • Complete and adopt in final form the Department of Public Works’ Streets for People plan.
  • Apply for a Safe Streets for All grant to plan and implement projects within the action plan.
  • Encourage the Michigan Department of Transportation to use Highway Safety Improvement Program funding as a Safe Streets for All grant match and/or implementation of the action plan.

Additional Reading