Vision Zero: Transportation Safety in the DMV
By Christine Baker, AICP, WTS-DC
Five jurisdictions in the DC region have adopted Vision Zero—a programmatic strategy to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the transportation system—and other jurisdictions are considering joining the movement. On October 21, representatives from Montgomery County, DDOT, the City of Alexandria, Arlington County, and Prince George's County engaged in a WTS-DC hosted panel discussion on transportation safety.
Dr. Laura Fraade-Blanar, an injury epidemiologist specializing in transportation at RAND Corporation moderated the panel, which was comprised of the following Vision Zero program coordinators: Christine Mayeur, AICP (Alexandria), Christine Baker, AICP (Arlington), Emily Dalphy (DC), Wade Holland (Montgomery County), and Andrea Lasker (Prince George's County).
During the discussion, panelists described how adopting Vision Zero has impacted their respective jurisdiction's approach to responding to safety concerns, implementing projects, prioritizing equity, and adjusting to new circumstances in a global pandemic. The following key themes emerged throughout the hour-long conversation:
- Through the implementation of their Vision Zero programs, each agency has enhanced their data collection, review, and analysis efforts to inform decision-making. Vision Zero's safe systems approach means using data to proactively address safety issues—preventing crashes before they happen. Panelists added that making crash data available to the public promotes transparency in this process.
- Top-down support from officials and jurisdictional leadership is paramount to the success of Vision Zero programs. Identifying transportation safety as an agency priority gives program staff the ability to go bolder and spark the organizational change needed to move safety projects and policies to the forefront.
- Vision Zero has provided a platform for agencies to enhance internal collaboration practices, moving the transportation safety conversation outside of just engineers and planners to engage staff from disciplines such as public health, police, parks/recreation, land use, and public safety. Panelists emphasized that Vision Zero has helped to enhance coordination across these departments and break down silos to create a unified approach to transportation safety.
- Equity is the cornerstone to Vision Zero. Panelists described how they integrated equity metrics into their project evaluation and selection criteria to address underserved areas or vulnerable populations. Panelists also emphasized the importance of making their public engagement efforts accessible to people of all abilities, ages, languages, incomes, races, ethnicities, and neighborhoods.
- The Vision Zero program coordinators at each regional jurisdiction meet monthly to discuss ongoing activities and plans. This has created a new avenue to collaborate and share lessons learned, which has been extremely valuable, especially for cross-border issues.
During the Q&A, an attendee asked how other transportation professionals can actively support each jurisdiction's ongoing transportation safety efforts. Panelists responded that other professionals can act as subject matter experts on the ground—sharing knowledge about safety best practices. Educating stakeholders and members of the public is a tremendous help in fostering the community culture of safety needed to succeed in reaching zero transportation-related injuries and deaths.
Over 50 attendees logged in to the virtual panel bringing excellent questions and perspectives to the conversation. We thank those who attended and helped to raise over $300 for the WTS-DC scholarship fund!
For more information on Vision Zero, please visit the Vision Zero Network.
For more information on jurisdictional Vision Zero efforts, please visit: