Miriam Bribiesca: Traffic safety strategy Vision Zero necessary to drive LA forward

When is a car accident actually an accident? The answer to this is: usually never.

Nowadays, a “car accident” is a conventional term used loosely that fails to emphasize the severity of an ever-growing problem in the city of Los Angeles. The simple act of using the word “accident” automatically implies that there’s nobody to blame.

Sadly, the normalization of traffic fatalities has become such a casual topic that it is now widely accepted as a common way of dying while living in a metropolis. In reality though, many of the current traffic policies enacted by lawmakers are inefficient in preventing traffic fatalities.

And those inefficiencies are costing lives. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the total number of traffic fatalities in Los Angeles has steadily increased since 2010. In 2014, around 250 people were either severely injured or killed by a car-related incident just in Los Angeles.

These deaths could have been avoided. By changing public opinion and making adjustments to traffic laws, LA traffic deaths and injuries can be reduced.

Which pleads the question, how can this be done? Vision Zero could be one solution. On January 26, 2016, the organization announced that Los Angeles has become one of ten cities to pursue the initiative to drive traffic fatalities to zero by the year 2035.

Vision Zero has a project strategy that works toward lowering the deaths and severe injuries caused by automobile accidents. Through the involvement of policymakers, Vision Zero is looking to change city policies, improve vehicle technology, update and create appropriate infrastructure and educate the community on driver protocols.

Lowering speed limits to 25 mph, adding more speed cameras and increasing police enforcement are pieces of legislation Vision Zero has helped pass in other cities such as New York to lower traffic casualties.

While this project is new in the United States, the history of this proposal is 25 years in the making. Vision Zero was first put into effect in Sweden in the 1990s. Since carrying out Vision Zero, Sweden has experienced a decrease in number of fatalities by nearly 50 percent while still holding a growing number of traffic volume. Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have seen a benefit from implementing tougher laws and aspiring towards creating safer streets and educational material.

Los Angeles, known for its car culture, would likewise benefit from Vision Zero by addressing the faults found within the safety system designs already in use. For instance, smarter road designs, tougher law enforcement and overarching community education would place Los Angeles on the map as a safer place for both driving and walking.

The goal of Vision Zero focuses on changing community perspectives and motivating them to organize to end traffic fatalities all around Los Angeles. Implementing Vision Zero will change the way the LA community perceives car accidents by placing importance and real consequences to those who break traffic safety laws.

However, Vision Zero isn’t all good. There have been worries that higher police enforcement could in turn lead to a rise of racial profiling. It’s a concern significant enough to warrant questions over whether Vision Zero should be put into effect.

But it should. Vision Zero’s efforts do not solely rely on the increase of police enforcement but also on community involvement. Additionally, this aspect of the program could be locally geared to address specific community concerns.

This would mean that police officers receive an appropriate education on the needs of the communities they will be interacting with. On the other side, efforts could be taken to ensure that those worried know their rights.

Overall though, this policy is important. By implementing these changes and adjusting the perception of a “car accident” into a serious tragic fatality will have positive effects on the community by reducing deaths that are easily preventable.

Granted, it will take time. But Vision Zero places Los Angeles a step closer toward making citizens feel safe when walking or driving its streets. Failing to address the growing problem of traffic fatalities will affect more citizens than the ones predicted to benefit if Vision Zero is pursued.