According to a resolution Springfield City Council will consider at tonight’s meeting, 84 percent of the city’s traffic crashes are due to so-called “behavioral shortcomings” including distracted driving, speeding and failing to yield.
Mandy Buettgen-Quinn is a Springfield traffic engineer. She says the Vision Zero approach means not accepting traffic deaths and severe injuries as the price of modern transportation. “And then it takes into consideration that humans make mistakes, but humans are also vulnerable — and that responsibility is shared between drivers, pedestrians, authorities and everyone.”
In Sweden, the plan is credited with a 50-percent drop in traffic deaths since 1997.
Springfield plans to consider resolutions authorizing Vision Zero and applying for a federal Safe Streets for All Grant worth up to $3 million dollars. That money would go to fund studies needed for Springfield’s first new transportation master plan in 23 years.
The City Council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Springfield Police-Fire Training Center, 2620 West Battlefield Road.
