Massachusetts town celebrates 3 years with no traffic deaths

The city of Somerville, Massachusetts has gone more than three years without a traffic death, showing the success of its Vision Zero initiatives, reports Jared Brey in Governing.

The number of serious traffic injuries went down by 50% last year, while pedestrian and bike collisions are also trending downward. 

Somerville committed to Vision Zero in 2017, and has since been steadily working to improve street safety. "Somerville has lowered speed limits all over the city, repainted and shortened crosswalks to reduce the amount of time pedestrians are in the roadway, added new speed humps, fixed sidewalks, expanded its bike-lane network, installed new bus stops and bus lanes and stepped up ticketing for distracted driving."

According to Brey, Somerville officials say their Vision Zero playbook mirrors Hoboken, another East Coast city that has successfully eliminated traffic deaths for nine years running. "Somerville has invested significant local resources into its street-safety strategies. It has local staff dedicated to planning, designing and evaluating street-safety improvements. It has integrated its Vision Zero strategies into its broad street repaving program. It has pushed other parties, from private developers to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, to adopt its street-safety tactics when they’re completing projects in the city as well."