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How is Vision Zero doing in Seattle?

On February 12th, 2015, Mayor Murray announced Vision Zero – Seattle’s plan to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the Seattle Police Department (SPD) have partnered to achieve our safety goals by following the basic principles of this approach which include:

  • Roadway design that takes human error into account and creates a safer, more predictable environment for all travelers
  • Targeted education and public engagement that empowers people to make better decisions
  • Data-driven enforcement that targets high crash areas and key behaviors

 

How does someone find out how well is Seattle doing with their Vision Zero goal?

The City publishes our Vision Zero progress online through the Performance Seattle portal . This information can be found under the “Transportation” section, and then navigate to the “Achieve zero traffic fatalities by 2030” under “Safety”.

Performance SeattleOur trending progress is measured using a 5-year rolling average. The rolling average is commonly used by federal agencies to smooth out the short-term variations and fluctuations in crashes and severity each year. This develops a trend line that we can track to see how we are doing with our safety goals.

How do I find out what causes these fatal and serious injury collisions in Seattle?

Each year, SDOT publishes the Traffic Report online. This report contains a wide range of traffic data unique to Seattle, and also includes detailed information about the collision patterns, such as:

  • Contributing circumstances to these fatal and serious injury collisions
  • General information about the fatal collisions which occurred that year
  • Breakdowns on the pedestrian and bicycle collisions

 

What can I do to help promote Vision Zero?

You can help by creating a culture of safety in your workplace, around your family and friends, and your neighborhood. Tell them about what it means to you if they put themselves and everyone on the road at risk if they pick up that phone while driving. Ask them about how many traffic deaths they would want to have amongst their family, friends, and neighbors with the decisions and choices they make when they are behind the wheel.

Everyone has the right to safety and the area you live in should not determine your quality of life. Our shared goal and collective responsibility is ZERO deaths and ZERO serious injuries .

Here is a link to our safety education resources: http://www.seattle.gov/visionzero/safety-resources.

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