Photo: John Surico | Bloomberg CityLab
Jersey City, New Jersey, US, is bucking recent trends when it comes to traffic safety; after committing to Vision Zero, it has achieved zero traffic fatalities. Vision Zero is the international traffic safety framework that adopts a zero fatalities goal. Jersey City has achieved this milestone thanks to the support of local leaders, including the mayor, and some innovative practices. The city has been proactive, piloting traffic safety improvements, like mini-roundabouts, and then implementing them without a lot of bureaucracy involved. They also took advantage of decreased traffic during the pandemic to make changes to roadways that would have been more difficult under regular circumstances. The city also partnered with Via, an on-demand shared transit service, to pilot bringing in this service in safety-enhancing ways. "A lot of other cities have said to these companies, 'Come and do whatever you can to fix our transit," said Barkha Patel, the city's director of infrastructure. "But we wanted to be intentional when we cocreated it with Via. We didn't just want a bunch of vans clogging downtown."
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