As part of Vision Zero Network’s 10-Year Anniversary, this is the first in a series of Top 10 lists highlighting changes, challenges and reflections on what we anticipate next for the U.S. Vision Zero movement.
A lot has changed in the road safety scene in the last 10 years. Here's our list of Top 10 Signs of Progress in the U.S. Vision Zero movement in the past decade:
10. Dismantling the “human error” myth
9. Calling it what it is: “Crash” not “Accident”
8. Prioritizing safety over speed: From city streets to federal policy
7. Reining in super-speeders with proven technology
6. Embedding equity into road safety
5. Collaborating across sectors for safe communities
4. Embracing the Safe System approach: Safety by design
3. Funding local action with SS4A grants
2. Building a nationwide movement for safety
1. People powering the push for zero
As we celebrate these 10 signs of progress and Vision Zero Network’s 10-year milestone, we commend the many people who have led this work – you know who you are! Thank you!
10) Dismantling the human error myth
For way too long in the U.S., many in the transportation world leaned on a misleading statistic that 94% of traffic crashes were caused by “human error,” implying that the best way to improve safety is to somehow reach and convince each individual on the road to behave perfectly 100% of the time. Good luck with that! (More in this post.)
Kudos to those who fought to change this, including National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Director Jennifer Homendy in 2022, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for removing the misleading 94% reference from their website and resources. Since then, we are making a slow but steady shift from victim-blaming and toward a Safe System approach. That means moving beyond education campaigns alone and actually redesigning streets for safety, adopting policies that lower speeds and reduce conflicts, and updating vehicle standards to better protect people, especially those outside the car.
Photo credit: Vision Zero Texas
9) Calling it what it is: “Crash” not “Accident”
At the time, one of Vision Zero Network’s earliest blog posts seemed a bit controversial: #CrashNotAccident: Words Matter in Saving Lives. A decade later, it’s encouraging to see so many people – including elected leaders, police chiefs, media and others – adjust their language to acknowledge that these are not freak, unpredictable “accidents,” but rather largely predictable and preventable crashes that do have solutions. This is important because it helps us focus on proven safety measures, including redesigning our roads to prioritize safety over speed, lowering speed limits and offering more safe transportation options. Learn more about what it will take to reach zero and some of our key lessons learned so far.
Photo credit: Portland Bureau Of Transportation
8) Prioritizing safety over speed – From city streets to federal policy
Not long ago, managing vehicle speeds wasn’t getting the attention it deserves — especially not from federal agencies. But that’s changing. In 2017, this National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Report called for stronger national leadership and modernized speed management, including setting context-sensitive speed limits and expanding the use of speed safety cameras. More recently, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) emphasized the importance of a Safe System Approach to speed management, noting that: “Speed management efforts are intended to reduce harmful speeds rather than just control speeding behavior.”
Meanwhile cities across the country – from Madison, WI to Boulder, CO to Seattle, WA and many others – are systematically lowering their speed limits to support safe mobility as part of their Vision Zero work — and seeing results. As Madison highlights in their Vision Zero Action Plan: “At 20 mph, people walking, biking, and enjoying their neighborhood will have a safer and more comfortable environment.” NACTO’s City Limits Guidance lays out the rationale, shares case studies, and offers engineering and policy strategies to help more cities make these life-saving changes. It’s encouraging to see more leaders at every level stepping up to show how we can prioritize safety over speed.
7) Reining in super-speeders with proven technology
We are thrilled that U.S. leaders seem to be warming up to an effective tool to curb high speeds. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), a proven vehicle technology to help drivers stay within posted limits, has been saving lives in the European Union for a while. But ISA has, so far, been used only sparingly in the U.S. – though quite effectively, including on fleets in NYC and Washington D.C.
Recently, several states passed laws to use ISA to rein in the worst-of-the-worst dangerous behaviors, or super-speeders. Learn more about new policies in Virginia, Washington State and Washington D.C. More state actions are expected, thanks to advocacy from Families for Safe Streets.
While super speeders make up an overall small number of drivers, they have a disproportionate effect on roadway safety. ISA doesn’t depend on resource-intensive, limited policing capacity. Also, ISA provides a practical alternative to license suspension or even jail, allowing offenders the chance to maintain their responsibilities, while enhancing road safety for the entire community.
6) Embedding equity into road safety
Prioritizing those who are disproportionately impacted is essential to advancing safe mobility for all in our communities. Past and present planning decisions — from redlining to federal highway expansion projects — have left many neighborhoods with dangerous street designs, limited mobility options and more road safety risks. Thankfully, more communities are addressing the policies and infrastructure that have contributed to these safety disparities.
For example, Oakland, CA is directing the majority of its safety investments toward neighborhoods facing the greatest burdens; Philadelphia, PA ended pretext traffic stops for non-safety violations because they showed troubling racial disparities and, critically, did not make roads safer; Denver, CO hired trusted community liaisons from the neighborhoods most affected by traffic violence to help inform local safety efforts. And communities, including Minneapolis, are working to embed fairness measures in their road safety work, such as speed safety camera programs. Read more in our recommendations for Prioritizing Health Equity in Vision Zero Planning.
5) Collaborating across sectors for safe communities
Transportation decisions affect more than how we move from Point A to B. They also influence access to jobs, education, healthy food and social connection – all of which are important social determinants of health. As a result, we need shared leadership and coordinated actions from multiple agencies and stakeholders.
Recognizing this, more communities are aligning their road safety efforts with broader goals of community well-being. For instance, Louisville, KY’s Vision Zero task force brings together diverse voices from public health, transportation, advocacy, healthcare and others to better reflect community priorities and inform decisions. In Clackamas County, OR, public health practitioners work with the transportation team to use health data in analyzing the impact of transportation projects on community health. And in places including Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, public agencies fund groups to provide culturally competent engagement in their communities, encouraging stronger trust in and involvement in transportation planning processes.
4) Embracing the Safe System Approach: Safety by design
For too long in the U.S., we have relied on an outdated approach to traffic safety – one that assumes people can be educated, encouraged, or enforced into perfect behavior. But as other nations have learned before us, we are recognizing a more effective way forward.
The Safe System approach acknowledges that humans will make mistakes, so prioritizes designing and operating transportation systems that prevent those inevitable mistakes from becoming deadly. This means safer road designs and vehicle technology, slower speeds and policies that prioritize life and health over speed and vehicle throughput.
The Safe System approach is embraced by many safety leaders, including the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) – see their helpful summary of the history of Safe Systems in the U.S. – and the National Safety Council, who led the development of this pivotal 2018 report, The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050, which Vision Zero Network was proud to contribute to.
Today, hundreds of U.S. communities are building their road safety plans on a Safe System foundation – from Kansas City, MO targeting high-risk intersections before fatal crashes occur to Salisbury, MD, taking an upstream approach to speed management. And states too: California, the biggest state in the country, announced its pivot to a Safe System approach. We all know that commitments need to be backed up by actions, and we’ll be watching – and helping where we can. So far, we are encouraged by these steps toward change.
Photo credit: USDOT
3) Funding local action with SS4A grants
Good ideas are even better when backed up with funding! Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets & Roads for All (SS4A) grant program has supported important road safety work in more than 1,600 communities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. These grants directly benefit essential safety planning and implementation at the local, regional and tribal levels. We applaud innovative SS4A projects in Baltimore, MD and Bellevue, WA. And Vision Zero Network was excited to work with the Blackfeet Nation in Montana to develop its new road safety plan.
Admittedly, as our friends at Smart Growth America point out, this is only a drop in the bucket of what is needed to move beyond the nation’s costly, highway-first approach in order to really help people move safely, conveniently and affordably. Still, SS4A is a good model that should be built upon. If your community has benefited from an SS4A grant (see the map), call your congressional representatives to tell them how useful SS4A funds have been!
2) Building a nationwide movement for safety
The groundswell of support for Vision Zero in the U.S. over the past decade has been remarkable. Hundreds of communities are setting public goals, developing plans to prioritize safety over speed, and implementing ambitious on-the-ground safety projects. And, tens of thousands of people recognize that we can turn the tide of traffic violence by using proven strategies to design streets, vehicles and shape policies that actually prioritize safety.
And while the Vision Zero movement in the U.S. started mostly in big cities, the range today is increasingly diverse – including all sizes of towns, cities, counties, tribes, metropolitan planning organizations and states across the nation. From Omaha, NE to Provo, UT to Tampa, FL to Wichita, KS to Fresno, CA – more and more places are rallying behind the shared goal of keeping our loved ones safe as they travel to school, work, and everywhere in between.
Photo Credit: Walk SF
1) People powering the push for zero
Traffic safety isn’t a new goal, but what is changing is who is leading the charge – and how. We credit you — planners, engineers, advocates, community leaders and residents — who are challenging the outdated assumption that traffic fatalities are inevitable. You are proving that change is not only possible — it is happening.
Across the country, individuals and groups are standing up to say “enough is enough” because they understand that no loss of life is acceptable on our streets, sidewalks or bikeways. We have the tools to prevent these tragedies if we build the public and political will.
Change is being led by advocates such as Zoe Scott of Bike Walk Knoxville, who organizes neighborhood walking and biking tours with elected officials to give them a firsthand look at local conditions. And by Walk San Francisco, whose speed management report educated decision makers, mobilized volunteers and focused media and political attention on the need to prioritize safety over speed.
It is being led by members of Families for Safe Streets who have lost loved ones or been involved themselves in crashes, including Christy Kwan and Faith Cole in Washington, D.C. and Gina Blanc in San Jose, CA. It is the growing number of people organizing World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims events to advocate for safe streets for all.
It is being led by planners and engineers and other agency staff in NYC, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Santa Rosa, Atlanta, and Washington State and by elected officials in Madison, San Antonio, Houston and beyond.
We commend all who have proven that we can lead with safety and who are fighting for the communities we all deserve. Keep going. We’re proud to stand alongside you!