A world without traffic fatalities sounds like a pretty nice future. New York's newly inaugurated mayor, Bill de Blasio, is aiming to make the Big Apple just such a place, following through on his ambitious "Vision Zero" plan to eliminate all fatalities to drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians on the city's streets within 10 years.
If that sounds like a tall order, it is. To help monitor the progress of the plan, Right of Way, an advocacy group, has established a website to track deaths in the four categories mentioned above, and to keep an eye on the progress of de Blasio's plan. Every time there's a death, RoW will tweet about it, as well, as part of an ongoing Twitter campaign.
"There will obviously be many competing interests for de Blasio's attention when he takes office, but with people of all ages being killed in traffic across the five boroughs nearly every single day, Vision Zero must remain a top priority," said Right of Way organizer Keegan Stephen in a statement, according to Gothamist.
De Blasio's plan rests on a number of factors, which are laid out on his campaign website. Improving on the 291 people killed in the past year will likely require the city to redesign intersections and narrow wider streets that "encourage reckless passing and speeding." Sidewalks and medians will be made wider as well, and an expansion of so-called "slow zones," where the speed limit sits at a mere 20 miles per hour, will be expanded. Naturally, the NYPD's traffic enforcement officers will also crack down on speeders even harder. Mobile traffic cameras will also play a larger role, with de Blasio claiming that a reduction in speeding comes with such monitoring.
What are your thoughts on these plans? Does completely eliminating traffic deaths in one of the world's largest cities even seem tenable in a 10-year timeframe, no matter how much is done to contain reckless driving and/or speeding? We want to hear from you in Comments.
If that sounds like a tall order, it is. To help monitor the progress of the plan, Right of Way, an advocacy group, has established a website to track deaths in the four categories mentioned above, and to keep an eye on the progress of de Blasio's plan. Every time there's a death, RoW will tweet about it, as well, as part of an ongoing Twitter campaign.
"There will obviously be many competing interests for de Blasio's attention when he takes office, but with people of all ages being killed in traffic across the five boroughs nearly every single day, Vision Zero must remain a top priority," said Right of Way organizer Keegan Stephen in a statement, according to Gothamist.
De Blasio's plan rests on a number of factors, which are laid out on his campaign website. Improving on the 291 people killed in the past year will likely require the city to redesign intersections and narrow wider streets that "encourage reckless passing and speeding." Sidewalks and medians will be made wider as well, and an expansion of so-called "slow zones," where the speed limit sits at a mere 20 miles per hour, will be expanded. Naturally, the NYPD's traffic enforcement officers will also crack down on speeders even harder. Mobile traffic cameras will also play a larger role, with de Blasio claiming that a reduction in speeding comes with such monitoring.
What are your thoughts on these plans? Does completely eliminating traffic deaths in one of the world's largest cities even seem tenable in a 10-year timeframe, no matter how much is done to contain reckless driving and/or speeding? We want to hear from you in Comments.
Of course he may be thinking of outlawing autos and bicycles that don't have three wheels. Perhaps you'll need to file a travel plan before leaving your house.
His next promise is to eliminate terminal diseases and death itself.
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