Vision Zero in 2025 Shows Progress: Lessons to Learn

by Reetu Pethani

After far too many years of shockingly high – and rising – numbers of people being killed in road crashes in the U.S., there may be some glimmers of positive change. Traffic deaths in 2025 are 12% fewer than in 2024, according to a recently released National Safety Council report. This follows slighter decreases of 3% in 2023 and 2% in 2022 over the prior years.

This is welcome news after years of dramatic rises. While traffic deaths in the U.S. had been declining in the decade before 2020, the pandemic years brought a sharp reversal. In 2021, overall traffic deaths in the U.S. reached a 16-year high, while pedestrian deaths rose even more sharply, hitting a four-decade high, according to preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association's (GHSA) Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State report.

Vision Zero Actions Spurring Change

At Vision Zero Network, we are also encouraged to see many early-adopter Vision Zero cities in the U.S. reporting notable decreases in traffic deaths in 2025. In some places, the number has been reduced to pre-pandemic levels. While in a few cities, 2025 marks one of the safest years in modern recordkeeping. 

While it is far too early to celebrate any sea change, this positive news is worth highlighting and exploring. Following are examples of encouraging 2025 reports:

• San Francisco, CA recorded a 42% decline in traffic deaths compared to 2024, though the city’s five-year rolling average remains higher than when Vision Zero was first adopted in 2014.
• New York City, NY reported an 18% decrease from 2024 and tied for the city’s safest year on record regarding traffic deaths since 1910.
• Washington, DC experienced its second-safest year on record, more than 50% lower than the previous two years.
• Chicago, IL’s provisional data shows a 23% reduction in traffic deaths compared to 2024 - reaching a nine-year low after pandemic-era increases.
• San Jose, CA saw a 16% decline in traffic deaths from 2024, the city’s lowest annual total in more than a decade.
• Jersey City, NJ reported a 30% decline in traffic fatalities compared to 2024, including crashes on state and county roads.
• Portland, OR saw a 32% decrease in traffic deaths in 2025 compared to the prior year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
• Milwaukee, WI saw a preliminary 19% decline in traffic deaths compared to 2024.
• Fremont, CA recorded a 42% decrease in traffic fatalities since the prior year.

• Learn from real Vision Zero successes and see what’s working in communities today: Compilation of Vision Zero Successes.

  Eugene, OR saw a decline of about 55% compared to the prior year.
• Atlanta, GA’s traffic fatalities have declined by 45% since its peak in 2021.
• Madison, WI had a reduction of approximately 50% in traffic deaths since launching Vision Zero in 2020.

What Spurred Progress in 2025?

Vision Zero efforts of these and other cities have been stalled not only by pandemic-related factors but also by a long legacy of policies and street and vehicle designs that prioritize speed over safety; increasing sizes, weights and speeds of motor vehicles; and general resistance to change.

But when we zoom in on what’s actually occurring on the streets – often at micro-levels – we see a growing body of evidence of what works to improve road safety. Across the country, communities are investing in safer streets, slower speeds, and more people-centered transportation systems. From quick build traffic calming treatments at dangerous intersections to lowering speed limits on high-speed corridors to partnering with state agencies to tackle high-injury, state-owned roads — local leaders are showing that when and where we invest in safety, we see progress. Now is the time to scale up what works.

Direct cause-and-effect are difficult to track in road safety given the many factors involved. But leaders in many of the cities listed above cite common themes that are likely benefiting their road safety outcomes – particularly lowering speed limits, redesigning roads, and using speed safety cameras to manage speeds. These are proactive, system-level investments that are grounded in a Safe System approach, which focus on upstream changes to the transportation system, influencing more people’s behaviors, especially via policy and road design changes.

Following are some examples:

• San Francisco’s newly launched speed safety camera program has already shown measurable results, with speeding declining by 72% at the 15 monitored locations.
• NYC expanded its speed safety camera program from limited school-zone hours to 24/7 operation and continued major street redesign efforts, delivering hundreds of safety projects since launching Vision Zero. These projects include protected bike lanes, pedestrian islands, curb extensions, and intersection upgrades. Neighborhoods prioritized for these investments are seeing some of the strongest safety improvements.
• Washington, DC has been advancing a Safe System approach focused on redesigning corridors on its High Injury Network with impressive results. The city has standardized key safety treatments such as leading pedestrian intervals at more than 80% of intersections and implemented protected bike lanes, transit lanes, and safer street designs that are producing measurable reductions in crashes.
• Portland resumed speed and red-light camera enforcement using upgraded technology while also advancing corridor improvements.
• In Madison, recent reductions in traffic deaths are concentrated on city-controlled streets, where officials have led the 20 is Plenty initiative to lower neighborhood speeds to 20 mph, design improvements on High Injury Network streets, and increased the use of proven treatments such as high-visibility crosswalks and rapid-flashing beacons.

Across these jurisdictions, the messaging about the positive 2025 trend seems deliberate and restrained, reflecting the complexity of the moment. Many cities are wisely framing their 2025 updates within the context of the past five years, which have been undoubtedly difficult and, in some cases, saw unprecedented rises in traffic deaths.

Even with some encouraging 2025 data, there are still many troubling disparities that merit more attention. For example, people walking continue to account for a disproportionate share of fatalities. Pedestrians represented nearly one-fifth of all traffic deaths in 2024 – far above pre-pandemic levels – according to analysis by GHSA. In NYC, more than half of traffic deaths in 2025 involved people walking. San Francisco reported an overall reduction in pedestrian fatalities in 2025, yet seniors accounted for a larger share of those deaths.

Serious injury data presents a more complex picture. In Jersey City and San Jose, for example, fatalities have declined over consecutive years, while serious injuries have not fallen at the same pace and in some cases are rising again.

And disparities are glaring when we look at which entity owns the roads. For example, Madison reports that recent fatalities have occurred near the edges of the city jurisdiction, emphasizing the challenges of cross-boundary roadway coordination.

Austin’s 10-year Vision Zero report notes that while targeted investments on city-managed streets have yielded traffic safety improvements, roughly 65% of serious and fatal crashes in the city occur on state-owned roadways beyond local control. This reflects a broader national pattern: state roads running through local communities are among the most dangerous corridors, yet they often remain unchanged, sometimes because of weak and outdated state safety policies and road designs. Across the country, nearly two-thirds of traffic deaths occur on State-owned roads, even though they make up just 14% of the roadway network. Without stronger leadership from state transportation agencies to redesign these arterials for safe speeds and safe crossings, many communities will struggle to eliminate traffic deaths.

Many jurisdictions note that their 2025 safety data is preliminary and that longer-term trends require sustained observation. Local leaders often describe 2025 as both stabilization after pandemic-era disruption and part of a longer arc shaped by sustained safety efforts, including those that predate the pandemic time.

Local leaders often describe 2025 as both stabilization after pandemic-era disruption and the continuation of longer-term safety work.

Rather than presenting the year as a sudden shift, most cities frame it as part of a longer arc shaped by pandemic volatility and sustained safety efforts that predate it.

Looking Ahead

Whether 2025 represents the beginning of a sustained, positive shift in road safety in the U.S. or not will depend on whether we lean into the evidence showing What Works. We know that reducing speeds, redesigning roads to reduce conflict points, and improving crossings and intersections with proven safety treatments all work to reduce the number and severity of crashes. We urge communities to scale up these proven strategies to propel more safety benefits – and also to embrace additional tools, such as Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA). Where cities commit to these upstream, system-level approaches and apply them consistently over time, measurable progress follows. 

Cities are proving that we can prevent traffic deaths and severe injuries. The next phase will require not only maintaining what is working but scaling it up significantly and more quickly to ensure that  safety benefits reach more corridors, more communities, and more people.