PHILADELPHIA- After more than six months of public comment from residents, transportation experts and community groups, Mayor Kenney today unveiled the Vision Zero Three Year Action Plan that will guide the City’s efforts to making the streets of Philadelphia safer.
“This is an important document not just because of its vision of zero traffic-related deaths by 2030, but because it contains a series of realistic and affordable recommendations,” said Mayor Kenney. “And it is important because the Task Force took the time to listen to Philadelphians from every neighborhood and background. What I said back in March still very much applies six months later: there is no excuse not to act to prevent future tragedies. Philadelphians deserve better.”
The outreach since March was extensive. Following the release of the Draft Action Plan, three tools were created to collect public input:
- Vision Zero Draft Action Plan Comment form
- Vision Zero Traffic Safety Map
- Vision Zero Traffic Safety Survey
These were published to the website visionzerophl.com. And, to ensure that neighbors without internet access could participate, printed material—translated to Spanish, Chinese, and Russian—were brought to community events. Between March and July 2017, Philadelphian neighbors were engaged through neighborhood association meetings, Police District meetings, block parties, as well as at festivals across the city.
“More than 40 community meetings, detailed discussions with transportation experts – and hundreds of comments resulted in extensive feedback that guided the Task Force,” said Managing Director Michael DiBerardinis, chair of the Vision Zero Task Force. “With the release of this Action Plan, Philadelphia moves closer to ensuring that traffic safety takes priority over traffic convenience.”
The resulting plan includes specific Action Items in six key areas, Evaluation & Data, Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Fleet Management, and Policy. Among the recommendations in the Action plan are:
- Focusing on youth traffic-safety education with the City’s Safe Routes Philly program
- Prioritizing street improvements along corridors on the High Injury Network
- Working with State Legislators to gain city control of priorities like automated speed enforcement, use of radar guns for speed enforcement, and the ability of the city to set speed limits.
Some of these have been successfully implemented in other cities and made a difference in saving lives and reducing injuries. The plan also includes details on the “High Injury Network” – a comprehensive mapping system identifying and targeting the most dangerous streets. These locations will be the top priority of Vision Zero efforts.
“In analyzing the killed and serious injury traffic crashes within Philadelphia, we found that 50 percent of those crashes were happening on only 12 percent of our streets. By focusing engineering, education and enforcement on the highest-risk streets, we can begin to make real progress towards zero deaths,” said Kelley Yemen, Director of Complete Streets.
The Vision Zero Task Force is comprised of City agencies, external partners like PennDOT and SEPTA, as well as community-based organizations including the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC), Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, Inc.(APM), People’s Emergency Center (PEC), and the African American Chamber of Commerce.
The release of the Vision Zero Three Year Action Plan is by no means the end of the work of the Task Force. Its members – along with the Office of Complete Streets – will provide annual updates, so the public will know about the progress that is being made. The entire Action Plan will be updated every three years.
More details at visionzerophl.com.