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Redwood City council members set two important goals for themselves:
- Goal 1: Eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries for all modes by 2030
- Goal 2: Reach over 50% of all trips to be non-driving modes by 2040
Goal 1 is known as Vision Zero. The second one is usually referred to as mode-shift. But Vision Zero can’t work in America, even if local jurisdiction took it seriously. And there are several reasons for this, with one reason being math. Local Transportation Plans, Climate Action Plans, Congestion Relief Plans, Livable Neighborhoods Plans, and Safe-Routes-To-School plans, … all rely on that one thing called mode shift. While the official term is about reducing Vehicle Trips (VT) and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), it’s more about switching from one rather wasteful and damaging mode of transportation to one that is less expensive, more efficient, and therefore more sustainable.
Unfortunately, when more people walk or bike, the chances for more collisions with cars are higher. And – as we learned over the last few years – with fewer cars on the streets, speeding goes up, which leads to more collisions and more severe injuries. So mode-shift and Vision Zero just don’t work well together; they are almost incompatible.
The Dutch version, called Sustainable Safety, seems better suited for this purpose. Instead of focusing only on the number of people getting injured or killed in some high-danger regions, this approach focuses on implementing policies to bring long-term safety to all road projects and all areas. This also doesn’t require additional funding or grants; it needs better plans. ADA-type laws and safety recommendations could be built into every project from the start, and therefore, they would be paid for with traditional funding. This is also cheaper because you don’t have to go back later and fix those expensive mistakes through traffic-calming projects. More importantly, as safety in all areas goes up, the mode switch will follow.
Vision Zero seems to be very project-focused, but Sustainable Safety is more about the bigger picture of modern urbanism. The five principles of Sustainable Safety include declaring the functionality of any particular road; limiting differences in speed, direction, mass and size (homogeneity); giving road users predictability; aligning the design of the road traffic environment with forgiveness in mind; evaluating, learning and innovating, allocating responsibility and most importantly taking responsibility (state awareness).
Local traffic planners are still too focused on Level-Of-Service (LOS) for cars, which has historically led to more congestion, pollution, and collisions. Changing that focus and increasing safety and convenience for people walking and biking, mode-shift and safety would improve automatically.
Plenty of cheap, low-hanging fruit in every city could be followed, like avoiding scenarios where pedestrians and motorists move simultaneously at intersections. Number one would be prohibiting right-on-red; it’s been tested, failed, and needs to go. Beg buttons for pedestrians only if they are combined with fast reaction times. Bike boxes at the front and in a visible part of the intersection. Leading signals for pedestrians and cyclists to get them out of the way. Wider sidewalks and bike lanes to accommodate pedestrians, scooters, strollers, wheelchairs, bicycles, skateboards, and runners. More pedestrian zones and bicycle paths away from traffic and pollution to reduce stress and improve mental health.
Vision Zero in America is already outdated. There is now a newer development on the horizon. The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) developed the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS). It does sound a little like a mix of Vision Zero and Sustainable Safety. Still, it includes a critical section for “Safer Roads to mitigate human mistakes” and “Safer Speeds in all roadway environments.” Suppose San Mateo County didn’t want to implement the Vision Zero methodology because it was foreign and strictly voluntary. In that case, they can show their commitment by focusing on U.S. DOT’s NRSS.
Of course, California still has Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Complete Streets Act of 2008 (AB1358) on the books – and Safe-Routes-To-School.
San Mateo County did not have to wait for Vision Zero, Sustainable Safety, or NRSS to do right by its residents. If Redwood City wants to achieve these goals of mode-shift and safety, why not start in 2024? Why wait another 20 years?
More Information
- Systematic Safety
- Sustainable Road Safety
- USDOT: National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS)
- Since when is C/CAG supporting Complete Streets?
- Is turning right on a red light your California birthright?
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
