WILMAPCO - Spring 2023

Spring 2023
New Road Safety Plan Has Begun
This winter, WILMAPCO kicked off development of an ambitious plan to eventually eliminate all transportation deaths and severe injuries on streets in New Castle County — a goal also known as “Vision Zero.”
In developing the Safe Streets for All in New Castle County Action Plan, WILMAPCO, local governments, state agencies, and community stakeholders will collaborate to better understand crash trends and how to address them.
In 2022, a record 86 people died on New Castle County streets. This loss is unacceptable and exacts a serious toll, including emotional trauma, healthcare expenses, wage and productivity losses, and significant taxpayer spending on emergency response. In response to an increase in roadway deaths around the world, the Vision Zero movement represents a paradigm shift in how we plan for safer streets that is built upon six principles:
likelihood of crashes and reduce their severity when they do happen.
• People make mistakes: People will inevitably make mistakes that can lead to crashes, but we can design and operate the roadway system to accommodate human mistakes to avoid death and serious injuries.
• The human body is fragile: Pedestrians and bicyclists are particularly vulnerable to death and injury, and that risk decreases on slower-speed streets.
• We share responsibility: Transport- ation users should ideally follow the rules of the road, but that wish alone won’t solve this challenge. Rather, decision-makers must make funding and policy decisions that prioritize
• Safety is proactive: Decisions should be made using crash-based analysis and other tools to identify and mitigate latent risks in the roadway system, rather than waiting for crashes to occur and reacting afterward.
• Redundancy is crucial: Reducing risks requires that all parts of the roadway system are strengthened so that if one part fails, people are still protected.
Seeking Your Ideas for Safer Streets
WILMAPCO and our partners will use safety data analysis and community and stakeholder feedback to guide our recommendations. You can help by visiting www.wilmapco. org/safestreetsand:
1. Completing the Safe Streets for All Feedback Survey.
2. Sharing the locations where you have safety concerns on our interactive map.
3. Inviting us to attend a meeting or eventhostedbyyourorganization where we may get additional feedback.
Completion of the Safe Streets for All Action Plan will enable local governmentsandothereligiblegroups to apply for grant funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
•Deathsandseriousinjuriesaresafety; engineers and planners unacceptable:Safetysolutions,based must build communities safer for
on data-driven strategies, must have a zero-tolerance approach to injury prevention. The goal is to modify how users, vehicles, transportation infrastructure, and emergency responders operate to reduce the
pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers; educators must instill safe behavior in their messaging; and first responders need to provide the best enforcement and medical response activities.
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