We’re excited to recognize five more communities for their commitment to Vision Zero: Oak Park, IL; West Hollywood, CA; Hoboken, NJ; Santa Rosa, CA; and Stamford, CT.
The Vision Zero Network Recognition Program uplifts U.S. communities that demonstrate how they are pairing strong, public Vision Zero commitments with effective and equitable strategies grounded in the Safe System approach. Recognized communities show they are building a strong Vision Zero foundation, including setting a clear goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries with public commitments from local electeds; establishing an interdepartmental Vision Zero Task Force, adopting a data-driven, equity-centered Action Plan grounded in the Safe System approach, among other fundamentals. Read more about the requirements here.
These five newly recognized communities not only meet the basic requirements but are also stepping up their road safety work in a range of impressive ways, including the following:
Oak Park, IL, with a population of about 55,000 people, has adopted new policies to make safe walking and rolling a priority, such as prioritizing people over cars in street design decisions, building more compact intersections that slow down vehicles and improve visibility, and setting speed limits based on how likely a crash is to be fatal to a person walking. Oak Park has also created a crash response team made up of staff from multiple agencies, including fire, public health, public works, and others, to assess the underlying factors that contributed to a fatal crash and what proactive, preventative strategies are needed to these factors. Check out their action plan.
An excerpt taken from Oak Park’s Vision Zero Action Plan on the importance of leveraging policies to institutionalize the Safe System Approach.
Stamford, CT, a city with over 136,000 people, is building on the community engagement that shaped their Vision Zero Action Plan by developing a Traffic Safety Project Public Participation Plan to bolster their efforts. This engagement plan will serve as “a strategic framework designed to guide how the [transportation] department engages with the community throughout the planning, development, and implementation of projects.” The framework will identify stakeholders, standardize communication timelines for projects, and other proactive engagement, in order to welcome a range of community voices throughout each phase of a project. The city is also taking steps to review their fleet for safety enhancements, including intelligent speed assistance (ISA), rear guards, and blind spot mirrors.
From left to right: Stamford project team members paint an asphalt art design on new curb extensions to demonstrate what intersection safety design can look like in their community. City staff talk with community members at a family day event to solicit input on their Vision Zero Plan’s draft recommendations.
West Hollywood, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles with a population of about 34,000 people, combined crash data with public input and equity indicators such as income, race, and access to transportation to develop its High Injury Network in order to reflect both where crashes are recorded and where data may not be telling the full story. To promote transparency and accountability, the city will launch a publicly accessible dashboard to share live updates on safety improvements and will also release a biennial implementation report summarizing crash trends, changes in state laws that impact local policy, and progress on key focus areas. Check out their plan here.
Santa Rosa, CA, a city of about 178,000 people, is making the most of a new state law that gives localities more flexibility in setting speed limits in order to reduce speed limits on its High Injury Network and central business district. In 2024 alone, they reduced speeds on 57 streets, with more changes coming. Santa Rosa is also redesigning streets to calm traffic by adding features like protected bike lanes, narrowing travel lanes, and reconfiguring intersections. To maximize impact and minimize costs, these upgrades are being integrated into routine street repaving projects.
Hoboken, NJ, with a population of about 60,000, is proving that Vision Zero can work citywide – and making worldwide headlines after eight years without a traffic fatality. With strong mayoral leadership, agency coordination and an upstream, systemic approach to making change, Hoboken is a model for communities of any size. Hoboken is deepening its focus on equity by tracking the distribution of crashes and proximity to high-quality bicycle facilities in communities of concern. Hoboken also plans to reform the existing fines and fees structure so that it doesn’t place an undue burden on lower income road users. See more about what they’re working on.
“Change is scary and painful sometimes. And it would be easy to give in and say maybe now is not the time. But it is our duty, as elected officials, public policymakers, and advocates, like many of us here today, to face these challenges head on, and recognize that the status quo doesn’t always cut it."
-Hoboken Mayor, Ravi S. Bhalla
Interested in Vision Zero Network Recognition?
Is your community taking action to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries? Our recently updated Vision Zero Network Recognition Program has just opened for submissions, offering an opportunity to spotlight meaningful changes your community is taking to advance safe and equitable mobility.
Through the Recognition Program, local leaders become part of a growing network of peers dedicated towards advancing Vision Zero. Specifically, recognized communities benefit from the following:
- Visibility on the Vision Zero Network map, highlighting your leadership and commitment. Take a closer look at recognized Vision Zero communities.
- Learning Sessions & networking through peer exchanges with a nationwide network of Vision Zero champions, including an invite-only listserv for sharing best practices and lessons learned and meetings geared to address top Vision Zero issues
- Resources & Support to strengthen and grow your Vision Zero efforts.
What's Required for Recognition?
Check out the minimum requirements and Planning & Strategies Assessment for Vision Zero Network recognition. At a high-level, these commitments and actions include the following:
- A clear target year of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries among all road users within an explicit timeframe
- A public commitment from the mayor (or top elected official) and/or city council
- A Vision Zero Task Force that includes relevant public agencies, community stakeholders and other key partners who meet regularly to lead and assess progress with active engagement from key leaders of city agencies (Transportation, Public Health, Mayor’s Office, Police, etc.)
- A Vision Zero Action Plan that is data-driven, equitable and grounded in the Safe System Approach and includes the following components:
- Identifies and maps the High Injury Network;
- Prioritizes speed management strategies, including complete streets, self-enforcing roadways, “road diets,” separated infrastructure for people walking and biking, and appropriate speed limits focused on safety over speed;
- Integrates community feedback, specifically the lived experiences of those most impacted by crashes, and takes actions to address disparities in safety risks, such as directing safety investments based on demonstrated need and risk, rather than solely on requests; and
- Strategies for accountability, transparency and evaluation
Submissions for this round of recognition are accepted between July 1 – August 31, 2025, and communities will be notified by October 31, 2025. There is no cost to apply or participate.
We recommend reviewing the questionnaire first to assess your readiness for recognition. If you have questions, contact us at info@visionzeronetwork.org. To help us spot your message quickly, please include "Recognition Question" in the subject line.
Note: Submissions are only accepted from public agency staff actively working on a local community's Vision Zero efforts. We are not reviewing state or regional-level plans at this time. Community-based advocates interested in Vision Zero recognition for their city should forward this opportunity to their public agency partners. However, if you’re interested in being part of a Vision Zero advocacy peer exchange that brings together Vision Zero advocates from across the country, contact Tiffany Smith at Tiffany@visionzeronetwork.org.
Not sure where to start? We have a multitude of webinars and resources highlighted in the recognition questionnaire (and more below) to aid your planning process!