By Carlos F. Ugalde
On January 2014, upon his inauguration as mayor, Bill de Blasio announced his intention to adopt a road traffic safety program, known as Vision Zero, aimed at eradicating all traffic fatalities in New York City by 2024. In 2013, New York City had one of the highest traffic mortality rates in the United States cities with 286 traffic-related fatalities. Swedish policymakers were the first to institute this type of strategy in 1997. Consistent with the Swedish plan, de Blasio’s Vision Zero prioritizes human life and safety over economic efficiency, setting aside core principles of cost-benefit analysis.
By and large, Vision Zero targets improving the dissemination of traffic-related information to the public and industry groups, enhancing enforcement efforts, developing data-driven enforcement strategies, and implementing traffic safety measures such as slow zones, speed cameras, and speed bumps. These initiatives require coordination between City Hall and New York City’s Police Department, Department of Transportation, Taxi & Limousine Commission, Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Since its announcement, Vision Zero has faced enormous legal hurdles with respect to the reduction of the City’s default speed limit. Because the state of New York retains sole authority to amend such limits, the City Council, New York City’s legislative body, was unable to unilaterally implement Vision Zero’s most important traffic safety objective—the reduction of the speed limit from 30 to 20 miles per hour. Despite stark opposition, on August 9, 2014, Governor Cuomo signed a compromise bill that would reduce the limit to 25 miles per hour.
Vision Zero seems to be heading in the right direction. According to the New York Police Department, traffic fatalities have fallen seven percent since de Blasio’s announcement. In addition, Senator Schumer (D-NY) recently secured $25 million in funding to support the traffic safety program. More importantly, Vision Zero will likely avoid additional legal constraints. Unlike in the case of the Sugary Drink Portion Cap Rule, which was recently invalidated by the New York Court of Appeals, the City has taken a different, stronger approach. Instead of relying solely on broad delegations of legislative power to administrative agencies, Vision Zero’s directives come straight from City Council legislation. This means that the legislature’s policy choice that prioritizes safety over economic gains can only be overcome by subsequent legislation.
Links from this Article
Photo Credit: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/08/09/gov-cuomo-signs-bill-lowering-nyc-speed-limit-to-25-mph/
http://www.nyc.gov/html/visionzero/pages/home/home.html
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-new-york-city-achieve-vision-zero
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/nyregion/de-blasio-looks-toward-sweden-for-road-safety.html?_r=1
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/08/09/gov-cuomo-signs-bill-lowering-nyc-speed-limit-to-25-mph/
http://nypost.com/2014/09/18/road-fatalities-down-7-percent-under-vision-zero-nypd/