The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) recently released its Vision Zero 2022 Update.
The plan outlines how to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in the district. It was created in collaboration with 30 District agencies and the Metropolitan Police Department.
The update highlights more effective use of data, education, enforcement, and engineering; and outlines the adoption of the national Safe Systems model.
The district must prioritize policies and projects that provide the greatest benefits to neighborhoods that have a high number of vulnerable populations and historically have been underinvested to more effectively use data, education, enforcement, and engineering.
“We know our efforts must ever evolve by applying lessons-learned and data-driven solutions, especially to our most vulnerable street users and populations,” DDOT Director Everett Lott said. “We also know the burden of traffic violence falls disproportionately across DC, with Wards 7 and 8 hit hardest, and that’s why we remain so keenly focused on equity.”
The Safe Systems model focuses on five key elements to creating a safer, interconnected transportation system that understands people make mistakes and that human bodies are vulnerable to crash forces. The elements are safe people, streets, vehicles, speeds, and post-crash care.