Vision Zero is a strategy that aims to end all road deaths and severe injuries while promoting equitable, safe, and sustainable transportation for everyone.1 Vision Zero is a traffic safety policy based on four elements: ethics, responsibility, philosophy of safety, and creating mechanisms for change. It ensures all road users have access to safe and healthy transportation.
This initiative agrees that responsibility for road accidents and injuries is shared between the road users and providers of the system (including road designers and enforcers). It looks beyond the fact that humans make errors, which could cost loss of lives; however, it agrees that the road transportation system should be able to account for human shortcomings and tolerate mistakes in order to minimize deaths and severe injuries. The approach considers all road users to be a driving mechanism for change to reduce road accidents; hence, they must comply with the basic safety rules.2
How it Helps
Implementing
Managing Speed:
The entire community and all road users should prioritize safe speeds. Speed reduction should be taken into account for the effective implementation of this approach; this may be achieved by safe street design, automated speed enforcement or safety cameras, and establishing safe speed limits.2
Equity Concerns:
The community should invest in proven safety measures with an emphasis on equity. It is necessary to identify localities or populations disproportionately affected by traffic fatalities and severe injuries to prioritize expenditures on highway safety in these areas.2
Challenges:
Vision Zero aims to reduce the number of travel lanes or the width of the road to improve safety for all road users. This has made it nearly impossible for emergency vehicles to navigate.3
Examples
1) Vision Zero Network
The Vision Zero Automotive Network is a non-profit organization that aims to prevent road accidents and save lives. They employ a variety of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and other technologies to create aftermarket electronics. These devices aid drivers in preventing fatal accidents. This organization’s primary objective is to get these devices into automobiles and trucks to reduce injuries and accidents on the road.
2) Safe Roads Alliance
Safe Roads Alliance is a non-profit group whose goal is to save lives by teaching people how to drive more carefully. This organization works with other traffic agencies to help people who have been hurt in traffic accidents. They teach all car owners about various ways to stay safe on the road, such as wearing a seat belt, and they also warn drivers about the dangers of driving while distracted.