Photo courtesy of CDOT.
What is Vision Zero?
There were an estimated 9,675 fatal or severe-injury crashes in the Denver region from 2018 to 2022. The human toll of these crashes is significant: At least 1,301 people were killed and more than 8,300 people were seriously injured during this period. Traffic fatalities increased more than 25% in the Denver region from 236 people killed to 300 between 2018 and 2022.
Vision Zero is a transportation safety philosophy based on the principle that loss of life is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility. It recognizes that humans make mistakes and therefore our transportation system should be designed to minimize the consequences of human error.
Reaching zero deaths requires the implementation of a Safe System approach, which was founded on the principles that humans make mistakes and that human bodies have limited ability to tolerate crash impacts. The Safe System approach focuses on both human mistakes and human vulnerability to design a transportation system with multiple redundancies to protect everyone.
The Safe System approach six principles are:
- Deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable.
- Humans make mistakes.
- Humans are vulnerable.
- Responsibility is shared.
- Safety is proactive.
- Redundancy is crucial.
Taking Action on Regional Vision Zero
In June 2020, DRCOG's Board of Directors adopted a Regional Vision Zero commitment to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries on the region's roadways to make safety a priority for all users of the transportation system. A toolkit, Taking Action on Regional Vision Zero, has been created to assist local governments when planning a Vision Zero strategy in their own communities.
The plan is guided by robust collaboration with local, regional, and state stakeholders through the Regional Vision Zero Working Group and public engagement, including a crowd-sourced map of safety issues around the region. The plan includes intensive data analyses of fatal and serious-injury crash statistics from a five-year period in the region. The plan sets out action initiatives, an implementation timeline and measures to help track progress toward regional safety improvements.
Plan implementation identifies the following:
- Improve collaboration between allied agencies.
- Increase awareness and adoption of Vision Zero.
- Design and retrofit roadways to prioritize people’s safety.
- Improve data collection and reporting.
- Increase funding and resources.
- Increase support for legislation, policies and practices that focus on safety at all levels.
Regional Vision Zero story map
DRCOG staff developed a story map visualizing fatal and serious-injury crash trends in the Denver region. The map provides details on crash location and top contributing factors. The map helps decision-makers explore data patterns to help identify how and where crashes occur to determine effective countermeasures.