The Vision Zero Approach

For too long, traffic deaths and severe injuries have been viewed as inevitable. Vision Zero challenges that notion by saying that no loss of life is acceptable on our streets. In fact, we can prevent these tragedies by taking a proactive, preventative approach that prioritizes traffic safety as a public health issue.

Graphic is thanks to the Vision Zero Network.

For too long, traffic deaths and severe injuries have been viewed as inevitable. Vision Zero challenges that notion by saying that no loss of life is acceptable on our streets. In fact, we can prevent these tragedies by taking a proactive, preventative approach that prioritizes traffic safety as a public health issue.

Based on a safe systems approach, Vision Zero puts the responsibility for safe streets first and foremost on the designers of those streets.

If our transportation system were designed to accommodate human error, which is inevitable, and to naturally encourage safe driving, we could decrease traffic violence, regardless of human behavior.

Using data, cities can learn where most crashes occur, since they tend to cluster, and what driver behaviors are leading to severe crashes.

With this information, cities can target improvements to those streets and can affect driver behavior in order to prevent crashes from happening in the first place, or from leading to severe injury if they do happen. Learn more about the Vision Zero approach.

Banner image: Michael Halberstadt