Philly Drafts Vision Zero Plan to Make Streets Safer

Lawmakers in Philadelphia know that city streets are dangerous for everyone who uses them – motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Right now, about 100 people die every year in traffic crashes in the City of Brotherly Love. That’s six deaths per 100,000 residents, a statistic that is higher than those of other big cities like New York and Los Angeles. Each day, an average of four children are involved in vehicle crashes in the city. Mayor Jim Kenney wants to see these numbers come down. Enter the Vision Zero Draft Three-Year Action Plan.

Vision Zero would, in part, expand and protect bike lanes like this one shown on Spruce Street.

Vision Zero is the first product of a task force that Kenney called together in November to address the topic of road safety and how Philadelphia can improve theirs. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Its recommendation include expanding existing initiatives such as a network of protected bike lanes; adding more red light cameras; and addressing old complaints, such as enforcement against illegal sidewalk closures and blocking bike lanes.”

Based in Sweden, Vision Zero is a city-planning philosophy that posits that all traffic deaths and accidents are preventable, because they are caused by human error. Through design, implementation, and enforcement, these deaths can be prevented. Kenney hopes to make Philadelphia traffic deaths extinct by 2030. On a practical level, implementation includes putting red light cameras on the swinging arm of school bus stop signs, expanding and enforcing bike lanes, and upping enforcement against those who park illegally in school zones or bike lanes.

Although its goals are laudable, Vision Zero does have its critics as a plan. John Baxter, of Downingtown, a member of the National Motorists Association, was quoted by the Inquirer speaking about the ideas contained in the draft. Redesigning roads is great, he opines, but slowing down traffic in general is unfair to motorists who drive carefully. He argues that jaywalkers should also face stiffer penalties, out of a lack of respect to those driving vehicles.

Funding for the plan will come from multiple departments of the city government.