Vision Zero: No pedestrian fatalities is the goal in Orange County

Traffic crashes are a serious problem in Central Florida.

The statistics are grim, with 35 people seriously injured and five killed weekly in the three-county Central Florida region. MetroPLAN Orlando, in partnership with local governments, has begun a coordinated planning effort called Vision Zero Safety Action Plan.

The goal of Vision Zero is simple. It is to save lives.

We see zero as the only acceptable number of traffic deaths. Everyone should be able to travel safely around Central Florida. Eliminating deaths on roads requires an ambitious, proactive method, which MetroPLAN has called the safe system approach. This approach lists six principles of a safe system. They include deaths, and serious injuries are unacceptable, the transportation system should be designed to accommodate mistakes, humans are vulnerable, responsibility is shared, we all have a part to play in eliminating traffic deaths, we should reduce risks before crashes take place, and the system needs safety nets.

Orange County Commissioner District 2 Christine Moore

Data and analysis show that combining policy changes, modernized road designs, and advanced technologies can move the needle on zero transportation deaths. We can accomplish this by redesigning high-crash roads, ensuring new vehicles are designed for safety and equipped with proven safety technologies, such as intelligent speed assistance and automatic emergency braking systems that respond to people walking and biking, boosting transit access reliability to reduce vehicle travel, adding safe, connected walking and biking facilities to support alternatives to driving to discourage high-speed travel, and lowering speed limits for safer travel.

The work is funded by a $3.79 million Safe Streets and Roads for All federal grant. The U.S. Department of Transportation established the program. This first round of awards provides $800 million for 510 projects throughout the United States. The regional and local Vision Zero Safety Action Plans should be completed in the spring of 2024 and offered to the MetroPLAN Orlando Board. I was recently elected as the new secretary/treasurer, with the opportunity to become president in three years.

For those of you interested in accessing Vision Zero Central Florida data, it is available at VisionZeroCFL.gov. Located here is a comprehensive dashboard where you can create customized searches for your corridor or city.

I found viewing the top 30 high-injury corridors instructive. There are numerous areas of concern in the Pine Hills area. These include portions of North Lane, Lee Road, and Edgewater Drive. Safety scores were derived from the total number of crashes, the highest level of injury sustained in each crash, and the travel mode of victims. The roadway segment score was normalized on a per-mile basis.

The study also looked at the top 30 high-injury intersection locations in the three-county area. Again, you can see most of these intersections are in Pine Hills. They include Hiawassee at Silver Star Road, Pine Hills Road at Silver Star Road, Pine Hills Road at North Lane, and Powers Drive at Silver Star Road.

How about this statistic? 41% of traffic deaths occur on 2% of Central Florida roads. The average prevailing speed is 53 mph, and 53% of the high-injury roadways are in disadvantaged communities.

The initiative's next phase encourages participation from people of all ages across the region, including community leaders, residents, and visitors. Please plan to attend our community meeting held on Wednesday, February 1st, at 6:30 PM at the Bridges Center on 13^th Street in South Apopka. We can save lives when each of us does our part. This meeting is meant to build capacity in the community for safer driving practices. I hope all our neighborhood leaders attend as well as anyone interested in safer roadways.