During Tuesday’s Boone County Fiscal Court session, the body voted 4-0 in favor of a resolution supporting the traffic safety initiative known as Vision Zero.
According to the Vision Zero Network, the collaborative campaign helps communities reach their goals of Vision Zero — eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries — while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
Vision Zero Network officials indicated the nonprofit project is committed to building momentum and advancing Vision Zero in communities nationwide, recognizing everyone has the right to safe mobility – whether walking, bicycling, driving, riding a scooter, using a wheelchair or riding transit.
“The Public Works Department has participated in multiple education events, including a peer exchange with the Federal Highway Administration and conducted a presentation at the Kentuckians for Better Transportation Conference,” Boone County Engineer and Director of Public Works Robert Franxman said during the meeting.
Franxman detailed that four state grant submittals have been made which look at safety improvements on Longbranch Road, Rogers Lane and Hicks Pike. He also says the Boone County Traffic Safety Committee is looking into solutions on Woodcreek Drive, Limaburg Road and at the intersection of Camp Ernst and Longbranch Roads.
Initially implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, authorities noted Vision Zero has proven to be successful across Europe — and now it is gaining momentum in American cities.
“It is a great project and it is all about safety,” Boone County Judge/Executive Gary W. Moore said.
Annually, more than 42,000 people are killed on American streets and thousands more are injured, according to the Vision Zero Network. Campaign organizers maintain traffic collisions can be prevented by taking a proactive, preventive approach prioritizing traffic safety as a public health issue.