Arlington County moves forward with a Vision Zero plan

Arlington County Board approved a five-year Vision Zero action plan over the weekend, joining other jurisdictions throughout the region that are trying to curb traffic fatalities. The county’s goal is to reach zero traffic-related deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Currently, Arlington has about four traffic fatalities per year and about 55 severe crashes.

The Vision Zero initiative in Arlington will translate to about $16 million in programs and infrastructure over the next decade, according to a press release from Arlington County.

The plan highlights several key focus areas to eliminate serious crashes and fatalities including:

• High-Injury Network Corridors: 78% of Arlington’s serious or fatal crashes happen on just 7% of Arlington streets. The county will work on reducing crashes in these key areas as well as looking at things like design, speed, and operations in these key corridors.
• Intersections: According to the action plan about 20% of all serious and fatal crashes in Arlington were turn-related crashes. And seven out of 10 serious pedestrian or bicycle crashes occurred at an intersection.
• Pedestrians: About a quarter of serious crashes, and over half of fatal crashes, involve pedestrians. The plan will look at more safety measures.
• Bicycles: The Vision Zero plan will also increase complete street initiatives to provide more safety for cyclists.
• Alcohol: Alcohol use contributed to almost half of fatal crashes and about 20% of serious crashes, according to the plan.
• Speed: According to the plan speeding contributes to about a quarter of both fatal and serious crashes. Reducing and enforcing speed limits is key to eliminating crashes.

Arlington’s Vision Zero plan will also focus on multimodal forms of transportation including Metrorail and buses, ART buses, and emergency services.

Other jurisdictions throughout the region have implemented or re-upped their Vision Zero initiatives over the past few years including Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Alexandria, and the District, which after public criticism of their plan added $10 million to the effort.