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In case you haven’t heard, the latest tagline for road safety is Vision Zero, an initiative where U.S. cities and states commit to ending roadway fatalities and serious injuries by a certain date. Recently adopted in Coral Gables, Vision Zero intends to end all deaths or serious injuries on all roads within the city by 2050.
The Gables resolution states that the city manager is responsible for developing and implementing a plan to achieve these results. This means that 26 years from now, no one should die from a head-on collision, lose their leg in a bike crash, be run over by a car while walking on a sidewalk, or be killed riding a scooter in a crosswalk – all of which have happened in Coral Gables in the past five years.
It was the last incident – the death of Daniel Bishop, a popular senior at the University of Miami set to graduate this past June – that may have pushed the Gables City Commission to adopt its Vision Zero policy a month after his death.
While six months have passed since Coral Gables committed to Vision Zero, it is unclear what the city has done in this regard. For Daniel, who was commuting to school on a scooter, the city has not moved forward with plans to provide protected routes for students to get to the university. Or for pedestrians, like my friend, Jeff, who was the victim of a hit-and-run while walking on a sidewalk, is the city ready to make all new sidewalks as safe as possible?
The reality is that many cities across the country are committing to Vision Zero because without doing so they will be ineligible for millions in federal transportation dollars. For those funds, they need to commit to end deaths and serious injuries by a certain date but also commit to a Vision Zero mentality. This is where cities – including Coral Gables – struggle. In the words of a local activist, the city has a better than nothing attitude when it comes to pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. It is this mindset, along with the “not in my back yard” mentality, that cities will continue to face after their Vision Zero declarations because voting yes on that document is just the beginning of the process.
For any city, especially Coral Gables, to truly achieve their goal they need to see Vision Zero as a new way forward, not a tagline. If we are serious about ending road deaths – particularly for people walking, cycling, or scootering – we have to build the infrastructure that will result in safer outcomes.
If this new mentality takes shape, everyone benefits. Not just with less car traffic, but with safer streets where we can let our kids ride bikes or walk safely. With protected paths, especially to the university, we can put an end to tragedies like the one that happened to Daniel Bishop and the others over the years on our streets.
For more information on Vision Zero, visit the Vision Zero Network, a collaborative campaign to help communities reach their goals of Vision Zero at https://visionzeronetwork.org/.
Robert Ruano is president of Ecostrata Services – a grants and government affairs firm in South Miami. He also is a volunteer board member of the Citizen’s Independent Transportation Trust (CITT).
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