Vision Zero (New York City)
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Vision Zero is a program created by
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Mayor
Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...
in 2014. Its purpose is to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries on New York City streets by 2024. On January 15, 2014, Mayor de Blasio announced the launch of Vision Zero in New York City, based on a similar program of the same name that was implemented in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. The original Swedish theory hypothesizes that pedestrian deaths are not as much "accidents" as they are a failure of street design. Traffic-related injuries and crashes in New York City increased from 2014 through 2018, though traffic-related deaths decreased.


Context

In 1990 there were 701 traffic fatalities in New York City. In 2013 there were 286 traffic fatalities. 2014 saw the fewest pedestrian fatalities since 1910, with 132 deaths. However, traffic injuries and traffic crashes in New York City under de Blasio's mayoralty have been increasing. There have been both a greater number of crashes since the program began, according to
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
data. Collisions on New York City streets increased over 11% between 2014 and 2018. In 2014, there were 205,486 such collisions; that number rose to 228,227 in 2018. There has also been a steadily rising injury toll, according to New York City Police Department data. Between 2014 and 2018, collisions resulting in injuries increased by 18% (from 37,556 in 2014, to 44,508 in 2018). In 2016, there were 10,775 pedestrian injuries, 148 pedestrian deaths, 4,592 bicyclist injuries, and 18 bicyclist deaths citywide due to motor vehicle drivers. However, in July 2019, de Blasio came under criticism after fifteen cyclists died since the beginning of the year, more than the number of cyclists killed in all of 2018.


Program


Implementation

The plan includes criminal charges against traffic violators,
speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
reduction from , slow zones, increased enforcement, increase use of speed cameras, quicker repairing broken traffic signals, and strict enforcement on taxi drivers. It also includes adding "leading pedestrian interval" signals, which allow pedestrians to start crossing before parallel vehicular traffic has a green light, to 800 signalized intersections per year. In addition, over 7,500 of the city's 13,000 signalized intersections received pedestrian "countdown timers" that count down the seconds remaining for pedestrians to cross. New Vision Zero laws made it a crime, punishable by imprisonment, if a driver does not yield to a pedestrian and causes death or injury. Any government official on duty is exempt from this law and is not charged with a crime.


Results

There was a reduction in traffic fatalities in the year 2014, but the reaction was mixed. Transit union officials say that bus drivers are persecuted through this law, and that they should be treated like government officials and not be charged criminally. Opponents say that buses killed at least 9 of the 132 pedestrians in 2014 and that they should therefore be investigated like anyone else. Traffic injuries and traffic crashes in New York City under Mayor de Blasio have been increasing, though deaths have decreased. In 2019 there has been criticism of de Blasio's initiative stemming from an increase in bicyclist fatalities from collisions with motor vehicles to fifteen as of July 2019, as compared to ten in all of 2018.


See also

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Transportation safety in the United States Transportation safety in the United States encompasses safety of transportation in the United States, including Traffic collision, automobile crashes, Aviation accidents and incidents, airplane crashes, Train wreck, rail crashes, and other mas ...


References

{{Transportation in New York City, state=autocollapse Transportation in New York City Government of New York City Pedestrian safety Urban planning in New York City