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IN FOCUS |
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by Matthew W. Daus, Esq. |
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VISION ZERO: A TECHNOLOGY, LEGAL AND POLICY OVERVIEW (NEW YORK CITY & BEYOND)
One of the boldest initiatives to come out of New York City (NYC) Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration so far is Vision Zero, an ambitious plan to eliminate traffic fatalities. For too long, it had become an accepted part of living in New York City that traffic crashes are bound to happen, and there is nothing that can be done to prevent them.
It is not hard to understand why this thinking was so widespread. New York City has one of the densest populations in the world with almost 8.5 million residents living in an area of 305 square miles. This makes New York City the densest urban metropolis in the United States with almost 28,000 people per square mile. This density, combined with the large number of vehicles interacting with people on the roads, has led some to believe crashes are inevitable.
This idea was reinforced by official and media reporting of traffic crashes as “accidents,” implying that the crashes were not preventable. The NYC Police Department (NYPD) rarely issues summonses to drivers involved in crashes reinforcing the perception that there was nothing the driver could have done to prevent the crash.
The beginning of 2014 gave us unfortunate reminders of how dangerous it can be to be a pedestrian in New York City with a series of high profile crashes involving the deaths of pedestrians. These pedestrian deaths prompted Mayor de Blasio to quickly fulfill his campaign promise by announcing, on January 15, 2014, the creation of the Vision Zero task force comprised of representatives from the NYPD, the NYC Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The task force was charged with developing a comprehensive Vision Zero roadmap to eliminate deadly traffic crashes, especially those involving pedestrians.
In a little over a month, on February 18, 2014, the task force developed an action plan with 63 recommendations to reduce traffic deaths. The action plan contains proposals for several City agencies, and includes several state and city legislative initiatives.
Among some of these initiatives are:
- NYC Department of Transportation (NYC DOT)
- Implement safety improvements at 50 intersections and corridors;
- Install additional speed cameras;
- Enhance maintenance of street markings;
- Additional street reconstruction safety projects; and
- Examine national and international best practices to adopt potential strategies.
NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC)
- Create TLC safety enforcement squads equipped with speed radar equipment to enforce speed and safety regulations;
- Pilot program to place black box data recorders in TLC licensed vehicles;
- Explore in-car technology that limits vehicle speed, warns drivers of impending collisions or that reduces the fare when the driver speeds;
- Create publicly accessible honor roll of safe TLC drivers;
- Enhance enforcement against unlicensed drivers offering for-hire service; and
- Update taxi school to account for new streetscape features and alert drivers to higher crash street types.
The implementation of Vision Zero is well underway. Working in partnership with the Mayor, the New York City Council just adopted an historic package of 11 bills expected to be signed into law by the Mayor, and six resolutions to help implement Vision Zero. The bills would require the City to, among other things:
- Study left hand turns and how to make arterial streets safer as part of a study of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries due every 5 years;
- Create at least 7 slow zones and 50 slow zones around schools annually, and report on these slow zones annually;
- Suspend the license of any taxi driver who receives a summons for causing a critical injury or death, as well as lifting the suspension of a driver if cleared of charges, and to revoke the driver’s license if found guilty;
- Make failure to yield to a pedestrian or bicyclist a traffic infraction, as well as make contact with a pedestrian crossing the street a misdemeanor unless the pedestrian initiated contact; and
- Create enhanced penalties for dangerous taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers.
The NYC Council resolutions that were passed, which have no legal effect, express the wishes of the Council and generally call upon the State to provide New York City the authority to initiate safety initiatives currently governed by the State, such as lowering the speed limit.
Many of these initiatives will be implemented with exciting new technology that helps correct human errors and enforce laws. The TLC issued two Requests for Information (RFIs) earlier this year, one for black box technology and another for speed regulator technology to help the TLC understand the capabilities and costs of these systems.
After reviewing the responses, the TLC plans to initiate a Safety Technology Pilot this summer. This pilot would evaluate the use of black boxes, alert systems, speed regulators, and other technology to help taxi and other for-hire vehicle drivers stay within the speed limit and reduce crashes.
While technology can be a tool to help prevent traffic deaths, it can also be a major cause of traffic deaths. One of the biggest contributors to traffic deaths is distracted driving which usually involves talking on a cell phone or texting while driving. It is surprising that no new initiatives to curb distracted driving is directly addressed in the Vision Zero plan.
While distracted driving laws are generally governed by State law, the TLC has more stringent rules for licensees and NYC law enforcement personnel are responsible for enforcing those laws. On July 1, 2013 New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that creates new penalties for texting while driving for young and new drivers. New York City, in an enforcement action last month, issued over 5,000 tickets over a two day crackdown on distracted driving which included talking on a cell phone and texting while driving.
One area where New York City has addressed the problem with distracted drivers is at the TLC. TLC has some of the strictest distracted driving rules and was the first regulator in the country to ban the use of hands-free and handheld cell phone use. Many years later, as new technology developed to evade enforcement such as the Bluetooth device in December 2009, the TLC adopted rules creating a “three strikes and you’re out” policy for violations, and expanded the list of forbidden devices to include Ipods, gaming systems and other similar devices.
Under TLC rules, first and second time violators must attend a Distracted Driver Safety Course. Another area of concern is the use of smartphone apps by drivers under the e-hail pilot program for taxicabs which could lead to safety issues when drivers use handheld devices to respond to e-hails.
Distracted driving is also being tackled at the federal level. The United States Department of Transportation (“US DOT”) proclaimed April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month which included a nationwide advertising campaign and law enforcement crackdown.
USDOT is also, through its Research and Innovative Technology Administration, assessing technology connecting vehicles such as vehicles to vehicles (“V2V”) and vehicles to
infrastructure (“V2I”). These technologies will change the way vehicles are operated, not only by reducing crashes, but also by helping vehicles to operate more efficiently to save fuel and reduce greenhouse gases.
V2V is the wireless exchange of data, such as speed and location, between nearby vehicles that allow a vehicle to sense hazards and issue warnings, or even take actions to prevent crashes. V2I is the wireless exchange of data between vehicles and highway infrastructure used to avoid or mitigate crashes.
Some car companies are also experimenting with Vehicle to Pedestrian (“V2P”) technology which is the wireless exchange of data between a vehicle and a pedestrian’s smartphone that will be used to warn the pedestrian and motorist of imminent crashes.
The idea of Vision Zero is simple – no traffic fatality or serious injury is acceptable. Vision Zero is not a new idea. Sweden first developed the idea of a Vision Zero Plan in 1995.
By 1997, Sweden had adopted legislation to implement the goals of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious deaths by 2020. Among some of the initiatives instituted by Sweden were:
- Redesigning roads to prioritize safety over speed or convenience;
- Road safety education campaigns;
- More enforcement using cameras and other technology;
- Prioritizing public transit and pedestrians on roads; and
- Annual evaluations of road data.
Since the implementation of the plan, Sweden’s traffic fatalities have plummeted. Last year, 264 people died in road crashes, a record low for Sweden. In Sweden, the number of cars in circulation and the number of miles driven have doubled since 1970, but road deaths have fallen by 80%. For comparison, Sweden has three road deaths for every 100,000 people compared to 11.4 in the United States, 6.1 in Australia, and 41.7 in the Dominican Republic, the highest traffic death rate in the world.
Because of the success of Vision Zero in Sweden and the realization that something needs to be done to stop fatal road crashes, other countries have implemented Vision Zero programs including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway. In the United States, cities such as San Francisco and Boston are exploring implementing Vision Zero policies.
Vision Zero is not a cure all for all traffic fatalities. Norway instituted its Vision Zero plan in 1999, and it has not reduced the number of casualties in ten years. One reason may be that since the 1970s cars have become safer. Safety devices such as seatbelts have become mandatory and cars have more safety features. These safety features have already helped to reduce traffic fatalities from crashes.
Some question whether the Vision Zero initiative will work in New York City and other similar cities. Norway’s Vision Zero plan, focusing on preventing vehicle to vehicle crashes which may have been already greatly reduced by improved safety measures in cars, is different from New York City’s plan which targets crashes involving vehicles and pedestrians.
Fatalities from crashes involving vehicles and pedestrians can still be reduced by roadway design, awareness, more enforcement and other initiatives. A recent news report found that pedestrian deaths from traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2014 has decreased by one-third from 2013 and the number of pedestrians injured from such crashes has dropped almost 8%.
Some have attributed these reductions to the uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter which may have kept more people at home. However, the increased awareness from the publicity surrounding the Vision Zero plan and implementation of some initiatives may have contributed to the decreases. Only time will tell for sure, but Vision Zero is off to a good start in New York City.
Vision Zero is the next big movement which may rival the sustainability movement started by PlaNYC and other city policy plans. With the success of Vision Zero it is hoped that other major city or urban environments will develop an ambitious long term traffic safety policy, legal and technology plan or agenda to help save lives.
