Cambridge Adopts Vision Zero!
On Monday, March 22nd, the Cambridge City Council unanimously passed resolutions put forth by the City Manager to formally adopt VisionZero and Complete Streets policies! This is an important step for the City of Cambridge towards continuing their efforts to make streets safer for all, with a focus on vulnerable road users including people biking, walking or working in our roadways. We applaud them for their continued commitment to safety!
Vision Zero calls for the elimination of fatalities and serious injuries resulting from traffic crashes, and emphasizes that they can and should be prevented. One of the leading factors that impacts severity of injury and death is speed. The strategy is to focus on the the 6 E’s – Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Encouragement, Evaluation and Equity – some of which Cambridge has been doing for years. Cambridge has a history of traffic-calming on city streets and adopted a truck side guard policy almost a year ago, but even with all of their efforts to date, there is still work to be done to get to zero. Last March a woman on a bicycle was struck and killed in Cambridgeport, and in the last two months two people were hit and killed while crossing the street.
The City of Cambridge is officially the 17th city to adopt a Vision Zero policy, according to the Vision Zero Network. New York City was the first to adopt Vision Zero, in February of 2014; Boston formally adopted Vision Zero in March of 2014 and released an action plan outlaying their plan to move toward zero deaths in December. This is great progress for the region – next we challenge Brookline and the City of Somerville to follow suit, to continue to increase the safety of the region that so many of us bike through, crossing city lines daily. The Boston Cyclists Union will continue to work with the City of Boston’s Vision Zero Task Force and with other advocates on the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition to improve safety on our region’s streets and help move the dial towards zero.