When and where communities implement proven road safety strategies, they see results. From Columbus to Orlando to Milwaukee, Vision Zero communities across the nation are showing what’s possible when they prioritize Safety over Speed – see more examples.
We can build on this growing body of evidence by doubling-down on what works and scaling up these – sometimes small but still significant – successes. Transforming our communities will take sustained effort, leadership and the political courage to scale up what works.
This year, Vision Zero Network will continue to share examples of on-the-ground progress because we know it matters not just in those individual communities, but also across the nation to prove what’s possible and sustain the momentum we need to change the status quo.
We’re happy to share more inspiring Vision Zero success stories:
- Columbus, Ohio demonstrates that relatively simple road redesigns can reduce speeding and improve safety for everyone. The city converted a two-mile segment of East Broad Street (part of its High Injury Network) from six vehicle lanes to two lanes and protected bike lanes in each direction, with real results after the first year: crashes were reduced by more than half and excessive speeding was reduced by 89%. In addition, no bike or scooter crashes have been reported since the changes were implemented. And more than 12,000 biking and scooter trips have been recorded.
The City of Columbus used Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) funding to improve the street design of a high-injury street, resulting in reducing crashes by more than between 2024 and 2025. Source: NACTO
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida shows that traffic calming can deliver lasting speed reductions. After reconfiguring NE 15th Avenue, adding bike lanes and making intersection safety improvements in January 2022, the share of drivers exceeding the 35 mph speed limit decreased from 60% to 1% northbound and from 14% to less than 1% southbound. Follow-up analysis done a year later in 2023 confirmed these improvements were sustained, with less than 1% of drivers continuing to exceed average speeds and 85th-percentile speeds holding at or below the posted limit.
- Detroit, Michigan builds on an approach we’ve highlighted before – large-scale use of speed humps to address dangerous speeds on residential streets – but new data show just how effective this strategy has been at scale. Between 2018 and 2023, the city installed roughly 2,000 speed humps per year. Analysis showed that the city reduced overall residential street crashes by 22% between 2020 and 2022. City data also showed that streets with speed humps experienced 14% fewer crashes than comparable streets without them.
- Oakwood, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton with a population just under 10,000, shows how low-cost safety infrastructure changes can reduce crash frequency and severity in smaller communities, too. After redesigning a one-mile stretch of Shroyer Road from four travel lanes to two (one in each direction) and adding a center turn lane, medians, and bike lanes, the city successfully reduced injury crashes by 87%. After three years, their analysis also showed that pedestrian crashes were eliminated and overall crashes (including non-injury) were reduced by 66%.
- New Braunfels, Texas, a city of about 100,000 people near San Antonio, showcases how targeted traffic calming improvements can deliver tangible safety results. On three residential streets and near an elementary school, the city used various traffic calming treatments tailored to each context – including speed humps, sidewalk extensions, and radar feedback signs; vehicle speeds were reduced by up to 23%. Check out New Braunfels’ impressive Safe Streets Toolkit, part of the city’s Vision Zero Plan.
New Braunfels, TX has reduced vehicle speeds by up to 23% on three streets by adding proven traffic calming treatments. Source: NACTO
- Los Angeles, California highlights that relatively low-cost lane reconfigurations can significantly improve safety – even on high-traffic-volume roads. A study comparing five high-traffic-volume corridors treated with road diets to 16 comparable but untreated corridors found that collisions, injuries, and deaths were lower by between 31% to 100%, depending on the measure, on those with road diets.
We’re doubling down on what works this year
In 2026, we will continue to highlight meaningful safety progress in communities large and small. These examples offer hope and, importantly, road maps for all of us. By doubling down on what works, we can exponentially expand safe streets for all.
You can explore more proven strategies and dive deeper into lessons from the field through our 10-Year Anniversary series.