Hoboken, New Jersey hasn’t had a visitors fatality in 7 years

For seven years now, the town of almost 60,000 folks has reported resounding success: Not a single vehicle occupant, bicyclist or pedestrian has died in a traffic crash since January 2017, elevating Hoboken as a nationwide mannequin for roadway security.

Mayor Ravi Bhalla was a Metropolis Council member in 2015 when a van struck 89-year-old Agnes Accera as she crossed Washington Road within the bustling downtown enterprise district. Bhalla didn’t know Accera however attended her wake and mentioned her dying impressed him to push for higher security.

“I felt it wasn’t acceptable,” Bhalla mentioned. “Our seniors, who we owe the greatest duty of safety to, should be able to pass that street as safely as possible. For her to actually be killed was a trigger that we needed to take action.”

Bhalla grew to become mayor in 2018 and the town totally dedicated to Imaginative and prescient Zero: a set of tips adopted by quite a few cities, states and nations searching for to eradicate traffic deaths. Proponents consider no accident is actually unavoidable and even wish to dispose of the phrase “accident” altogether when describing roadway fatalities.

Sweden originated the idea greater than a quarter-century in the past, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg touted Hoboken in 2022 when asserting his division would observe Imaginative and prescient Zero tips. Main U.S. cities together with New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Baltimore and Portland, Oregon, have built-in facets of this system into their security plans, together with a minimum of some type of daylighting, the time period for the elimination of parking areas close to intersections to enhance visibility.

Hoboken’s success has chipped away on the notion that reaching zero visitors deaths is extra aspirational than achievable.

“That goal is obviously bold,” mentioned Leah Shahum, founder and director of the Imaginative and prescient Zero Community, a nonprofit advocating for avenue security. “It’s also meant to help us kind of shake off the complacency that we’ve had for too long that traffic deaths are inevitable, that what we’re experiencing today is just an unfortunate and unavailable byproduct of modern society. That’s not the case.”

Whereas Hoboken’s plan has quite a few elements, together with decrease velocity limits and staggered visitors lights, daylighting is usually credited as one of many largest causes its fatalities have dropped to zero.

Ryan Sharp, the town’s transportation director, mentioned when roads should be repaved, Hoboken takes the extra step of cordoning off the road corners to widen curbs and shorten crosswalks. It’s already unlawful to park at an intersection in Hoboken, however drivers usually do anyway if there aren’t bodily boundaries.

A number of the new concrete buildings are outfitted with bike racks, benches and even rain backyard planters that assist soak up stormwater runoff. If there isn’t sufficient cash for an infrastructure answer instantly, the town places up short-term bollards.

“There really isn’t a silver bullet or any magic, innovative thing where we’ve cracked a code,” Sharp mentioned. “Our approach has been more about focusing on the fundamentals. We’ve created a program where we’re layering these things in year after year.”

However eradicating parking from a spot the place it’s briefly provide has critics.

Joe Picolli, who opened Hoboken Barber Store on Washington Road in 2018, mentioned the curb extensions — or bumpouts — have made it troublesome for downtown retailers to win again enterprise misplaced through the pandemic.

“Before the bumpouts, there were a lot more buses, a lot more cars, a lot more parking,” mentioned Picolli, who lives in Level Nice, New Jersey, and typically has to path avenue sweepers to seek out parking. “It’s good as far as people walking on the street, but it’s bad because you’re not getting the flow from other towns.”

Though a bit bigger than its Mile Sq. Metropolis nickname would indicate, Hoboken ranks fourth nationwide in inhabitants density, trailing three different New Jersey cities and two spots forward of New York, in line with 2022 census knowledge.

Whereas the compact footprint means everyone seems to be inside vary of public transit, automobiles nonetheless crowd the foremost streets and curbsides.

“We’re not New York City, but we’re not a suburb, either,” mentioned Tammy Peng, who has lived in Hoboken for greater than 15 years. “We’re kind of a weird in between. A lot of families keep a car because they want to run errands on the weekend, but Monday to Friday they’re commuting into the city.”

Whereas daylighting barely lengthens her journeys to soccer observe or the grocery retailer, Peng mentioned it’s a lot simpler to identify pedestrians crossing the road.

Total fatality numbers have remained largely unchanged since New York joined the Imaginative and prescient Zero motion in 2014 with a plan that included widening some curbs. Mayor Eric Adams boosted the town’s dedication in November by promising to sunlight 1,000 intersections annually.

Some cities have even used the observe to beautify their downtowns. Baltimore employed artists to brighten up curb extensions with geometric shapes and vibrant colours.

States are embracing daylighting as properly. Greater than 40 had enacted some kind of daylighting legislation when California’s Legislature authorised a brand new statewide rule in 2023 that prohibits parking inside 20 ft (6 meters) of an intersection. Cities can set shorter distances with proof their plans are secure. Violators began receiving warnings in January and face fines starting early subsequent 12 months.

Assemblymember Alex Lee, who authored California’s laws, mentioned he was troubled by the truth that his state’s traffic fatalities have been even greater than the nationwide common, with round 1,100 pedestrians killed in each 2021 and 2022. Deaths have been recorded at an analogous tempo by means of the primary six months of 2023.

Though cities within the nation’s most populous state vary from behemoth metropolises to sparsely populated rural communities, Lee figured a statewide normal would eradicate any confusion. The one factor higher, he contends, could be a nationwide normal.

“Just as I assume in every state you can’t park in front of a fire hydrant or can’t park close to the train track, it should be the same whether you’re in California or Nebraska,” Lee mentioned.

Stefanie Seskin, director of coverage and observe on the Nationwide Affiliation of Metropolis Transportation Officers, mentioned indicators are wonderful, however not almost as efficient as infrastructure modifications.

“It certainly takes a next level of chutzpah for a driver to park on a curb extension than it does to park where a sign says ‘please don’t,’” Seskin mentioned.

Jeff Speck, writer of the e-book “Walkable City,” which makes the case for pedestrian-friendly downtowns, commends cities like Hoboken for enhancing visibility at intersections. Nevertheless, he mentioned some communities go too far by taking away too many parking areas with out including bodily boundaries, creating broad “sight triangles” resulting in elevated rushing.

“What a number of cities have done is overreacted to the laudable goal of daylighting and placed oversized no-parking zones around every driveway and curb cut,” Speck mentioned. “That’s counterproductive.”

In 2012, Seattle was one of many first main U.S. cities to pursue zero visitors deaths. Mike McGinn, the mayor on the time, mentioned he wished to recalibrate the general public’s expectation of highway security to make it extra akin to their ideas on airplane security, the place no fatality is taken into account acceptable.

Why, he asks, ought to downtown areas the place folks work, store, or attend leisure occasions must accept a decrease normal?

“This is literally the easiest real estate that should be given over to safety,” mentioned McGinn, now govt director of the pedestrian advocacy group America Walks. “It’s low-hanging fruit.”