Vision Zero Policy and Strategies

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DRAFT October 2020

Sarasota County Vision Zero Policy and Strategies

DRAFT October 2020

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Contract 2019-259 | Work Assignment 1 | PO 193324

Prepared in Coordination with the Sarasota County Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan

Vision Zero Policy and Strategies

Executive Summary This Vision Zero Policy and Strategies document outlines the initiative and steps that Sarasota County can take towards establishing and advancing a Vision Zero initiative to eliminate all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in Sarasota County.

Achieving the Goal of Zero Vision Zero is a data-driven approach to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. This starts with the ethical belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities, that any serious injury or loss of human life is unacceptable, and that system designers and policy makers share the responsibility to ensure safe systems for the entire traveling population.

Fundamental Principles While the road to Vision Zero may differ from community to community, the route to get there is founded on the following five Vision Zero principles:

1. Traffic deaths and severe injuries are acknowledged to be preventable. 2. Human life and health are prioritized within all aspects of transportation systems. 3. Acknowledgement that human error is inevitable, and transportation systems should be forgiving. 4. Safety work should focus on systems-level changes above influencing individual behavior. 5. Speed is recognized and prioritized as the fundamental factor in crash severity.

The Why? In the five-year period between 2015 and 2019 more than 2,500 fatal and serious injury crashes occurred in Sarasota County. These crashes resulted in the death of 275 people and injuries to 3,313 people. In the 10-year period between 2009 and 2018, 453 people lost their lives on roadways within Sarasota County.

Establishing a Vision Zero Policy While it is appealing to support Vision Zero in principle, it is far more difficult to take the bold steps necessary to implement it meaningfully and effectively. At best, Vision Zero has the potential to creating a lasting shift in how we design and use our transportation systems to prioritize the preservation and quality of human life. At worst, Vision Zero runs the risk of becoming a short-lived trend or slogan that falls short of providing real life- saving change. There is peril in well-meaning leaders adopting symbolic resolutions that fail to acknowledge and incorporate the significant systemic changes necessary to shift the paradigm of traffic safety.

Vision Zero Policy and Strategies

Strong policy resolutions, whether originating from a legislature, an executive, or an agency, are a fundamental baseline for any Vision Zero effort. There are options for how Sarasota County could initiate Vision Zero; as done by many other communities the County Commission could consider passing a Vision Zero resolution, a standalone Vision Zero policy, or integrate Vision Zero into the County’s Comprehensive Plan. A strong policy commitment to Vision Zero establishes and formalizes the effort towards ending the needless death and injury on the County’s roadways.

Strategies for Implementing Vision Zero Upon the adoption of a policy, the County will need to identify the pathways and actions towards achieving the goal of Vision Zero. Based on the experiences of early-adopter cities in the U.S., the following nine components have proven to be an effective high-level framework for communities considering a Vision Zero commitment. While these are not the only factors to consider, they are critical aspects to ensure a strong and lasting commitment to Vision Zero.

• Political Commitment • Multi-Disciplinary Leadership • Action Plan • Equity • Cooperation and Collaboration • Systems-Based Approach • Data-Driven • Community Engagement • Transparency

• Establish a Vision Zero Task Force • Develop a Vision Zero Action Plan • Prioritize Roadway Design • Focus on Speed Management • Utilize Impactful Education Strategies • Ensure Equitable Enforcement • Evaluate Progress

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Table of Contents What is Vision Zero? ...... 1 The Vision Zero Approach ...... 2 Fundamental Principles ...... 3 Initiating Vision Zero ...... 5 Why Vision Zero? ...... 6 How Are Communities Approaching Vision Zero? ...... 7 Vision Zero for Sarasota County ...... 14 Vision Zero Implementation Strategies ...... 18 Actionable Steps ...... 19 Conclusion ...... 26

Vision Zero Policy and Strategies

What is Vision Zero? Initiated in Sweden in 1997, Vision Zero has expanded to many countries around the world. Today, many U.S. cities and counties are committing to Vision Zero, which, in addition to setting the goal of zero traffic deaths or severe injuries, also commits these communities to a fundamental shift in how they approach traffic safety.

Vision Zero takes the approach that traffic fatalities and serious injuries are preventable (there are no accidents, only crashes), and thus ethically unacceptable. Traffic fatalities and injuries damage the lives, families, our loved ones, and our friends. This toll is simply unacceptable if there is an alternative. Communities across the globe have shown that the Vision Zero approach can dramatically reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.

Vision Zero is a systems-focused, public health-oriented, data-driven approach. Vision Zero benefits all roadway users, including those who drive, walk, bicycle, transport goods, and use public transportation. Vision Zero promotes the idea that mobility should be safe, healthy, and equitable. This starts with the ethical belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities, that any serious injury or loss of human life is unacceptable, and that system designers and policy makers share the responsibility to ensure safe systems for the entire traveling population.

Source: mysuncoast.com

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The Vision Zero Approach Vision Zero is more than just a tagline, campaign, or program, it is a fundamentally different approach to traffic safety that acknowledges that systemic changes are necessary to result in meaningful progress.

Unlike the traditional approach to traffic safety, where the greatest level of responsibility has been placed on individual road users, Vision Zero sets the highest level of responsibility on the system designers, transportation planners and engineers, policymakers, law enforcement, and more. Then, the concept holds that individuals have the responsibility to abide by the systems, laws, and policies set by the system designers. If safety problems persist, then the responsibility comes back to the system designers to take further measures to ensure safety. This is a paradigm shift in approaching roadway safety as a systemic issue.

The two major ways in which Vision Zero departs from the traditional approach to traffic safety are:

1. Vision Zero recognizes that people will sometimes make mistakes, so the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities. This means that transportation system designers and policymakers are expected to improve the roadway environment, policies (such as speed management), and other related systems to lessen the severity of crashes.

2. Vision Zero is a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together diverse and necessary stakeholders to address this complex problem. In the past, meaningful, cross- disciplinary collaboration among local traffic planners and engineers, policymakers, and public health professionals has not been the norm. Vision Zero acknowledges that many factors contribute to safe mobility, including roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology, and policies, and sets clear goals to achieve the shared goal of zero fatalities and severe injuries.

Traditional Approach Vision Zero Traffic deaths are INEVITABLE Traffic deaths are PREVENTABLE

PERFECT human behavior vs Integrate HUMAN FAILING in approach Prevent COLLISIONS Prevent FATAL AND SEVERE CRASHES INDIVIDUAL responsibility SYSTEMS approach Saving lives is EXPENSIVE Saving lives is NOT EXPENSIVE

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Fundamental Principles The Vision Zero Network has identified the following five principles that can and should be applied anywhere, regardless of a community’s size or political structure. While certain strategies and timing will differ from place to place, these principles are core to successful Vision Zero efforts.

Traffic Deaths and Severe Injuries are Acknowledged to be Preventable Setting the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious, life-altering injuries recognizes that we can influence safe conditions, systems, and behavior. As exhibited in the movement to replace the term “accident” with “crash,” Vision Zero acknowledges that crashes are preventable, and the choices we make, particularly at the policy level and related to the build environment, have far greater impacts than we have traditionally accepted. What we have long called “accidents” are most related to policies, systems, and environments that can be improved upon with collective action and political will.

Setting the shared goal of zero is bold, aspirational, and reinforces that we need major shifts in thinking, planning, prioritizing, and taking action. It shakes up the status quo. It also compels greater cooperation and shared responsibility among diverse stakeholders, including transportation planners, engineers, policymakers, law enforcement, emergency response teams, public health professionals, and community leaders.

Human Life and Health are Prioritized within All Aspects of Transportation Systems Vision Zero holds that traffic deaths and serious injuries are ethically unacceptable. All people deserve to be safe as they move about their communities, whether walking, bicycling, driving, or taking transit, and regardless of age, race, ability, or background.

Just as a civilized society prioritizes clean air and safe drinking water for community members, Vision Zero holds that people fundamentally deserve safe transportation, and that it is government’s responsibility to ensure conditions for such safety. Benefits (or perceived benefits) of speed and mobility are secondary to the primary goal of safety and health.

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Acknowledgement that Human Error is Inevitable, and Transportation Systems Should be Forgiving Vision Zero accepts that humans are fallible and will, at times, make poor choices that result in crashes. No amount of education, enforcement, or technological advancement will eliminate that.

Therefore, Vision Zero builds upon the known threshold at which the human body can withstand a certain level of trauma without being severely injured or killed. Rather than trying to reverse the inevitability of human failure through education, Vision Zero holds that we should design the transportation system based on it. The responsibility for traffic safety is shared by system designers and road users. This responsibility begins with the system designers.

The focus of Vision Zero is eliminating crashes that result in fatalities or severe injuries, not necessarily eliminating every crash occurrence. This focus will help prioritize strategies and resources.

Safety Work Should Focus on Systems-Level Changes Above Influencing Individual Behavior Vision Zero calls for a shift in attention from the traditional, primarily educational approach aimed at influencing individual behavior to an upstream approach that shapes policies, systems, and the built environment – key factors that most affect people’s behavioral choices. This more holistic, integrated approach, adapted from public health frameworks, differentiates Vision Zero from the traditional transportation safety approach.

This does not mean that individuals are not responsible for their own behavior, nor that efforts to influence individuals directly are not worthwhile. Instead, it shifts the focus to higher-level systems and policies and those who control them because this has greater impact than trying to influence billions of individual choices.

Policies and designs should encourage the desired behaviors by making them intuitive, rational, and easy to follow.

Speed is Recognized and Prioritized as the Fundamental Factor in Crash Severity Vision Zero starts with the basic premise that the level of severity of a traffic injury is directly related to the force of the crash and the resulting impact on the human body. Insisting on travel speeds that are appropriate to the context and designed to be safe, first and foremost, is not only an effective strategy, but a critical foundation of Vision Zero.

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A Vision Zero approach holds that speeds must be limited by a combination of policy, technology, culture, and design to a level commensurate with the inherent safety of the road system. This rests primarily on three things:

• How a roadway is designed to encourage or discourage certain levels of speed • What speed limit is legally set • How that speed limit is communicated and enforced

Initiating Vision Zero While Vision Zero looks different for every adopter, many communities typically adopt a Vision Zero Resolution committing to achieving zero deaths and serious injuries as a legal body. A Vision Zero policy may then be developed and adopted, whether through a legislative board or through addition into a Comprehensive Plan. Most jurisdictions will also adopt a Vision Zero Strategic/Action Plan which specifies the policies and interventions the jurisdiction will undertake to achieve their stated policy. While the approach can vary, a comprehensive strategy approach to initiating Vision Zero typically includes some form of the following elements:

Engineering The physical structure of the built environment influences roadway user conduct. Proper lane widths, adequate street lighting, and connected networks for people walking or biking ensure that mobility can be safe while guiding the behavior of people using the street.

Education and Encouragement Proper use of roadways is necessary for public safety. Education campaigns can help prepare roadway users for new, innovative street design concepts, reinforce knowledge about common causes of crashes, and promote available public and private services.

Policy Changes State and local policy play a significant role in present and future traffic management. Policy can be used to prioritize certain travel modes (i.e., transit, pedestrian, bicycle, automobile, and/or freight) throughout the transportation network. Policy changes also provide opportunities for local jurisdictions to customize the approach for their community that may vary from state or regional policies.

Equity Stakeholders commit to an equitable approach to Vision Zero by establishing inclusive and representative processes that can bring increased and overdue safety resources to low- income neighborhoods and communities.

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Emergency Response Develop, apply, and promote emergency response approaches to better prevent and reduce the severity of crashes involving people walking or biking.

Enforcement Enforcement is another element that is used to make a community’s roadways safer. Enforcement efforts directed towards high-risk behaviors, such as speeding and distracted driving, and along dangerous corridors can help curb behaviors that contribute to traffic deaths and injuries. Careful planning is necessary to ensure positive public perception with regards to enforcement and equitability of enforcement, this can include cultural competency training.

Evaluation Vision Zero is a data-driven approach that relies on the evaluation of statistics and performance measures. Frequently evaluating system performance with pre-set benchmarks helps guide decision-making and ensures progress is being made.

Why Vision Zero? In the five-year period between 2015 and 2019 more than 2,500 fatal and serious injury crashes occurred in Sarasota County. These crashes resulted in the death of 275 people and injuries to 3,313 people. In the 10-year period between 2009 and 2018, 453 people lost their lives on roadways within Sarasota County.

In Smart Growth America’s 2019 Dangerous by Design Report, the North Port-Sarasota- Bradenton metropolitan area ranked as the 4th most deadly metropolitan area in the country for people walking with over 2.5 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 population between 2008 and 2017. The area had the largest increase in 10-year Pedestrian Danger Index, the measure used by Smart Growth America, scores in the country from 2016 to 2019.

Such statistics establish the need to recognize and address the issue of traffic deaths and injuries in Sarasota County at the system level. A Vision Zero policy, followed by meaningful and systemic improvements in roadway design, operations, and maintenance have the potential to significantly improve roadway safety through methodical plans and policies that address the major contributors to fatal and serious injury crashes. Such policies and plans not only create safer communities but create a more livable community for all residents and visitors.

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How Are Communities Approaching Vision Zero? A comprehensive review of cities and counties who have adopted Vision Zero was conducted to assemble ideas, common elements, best practices, and lessons learned with an eye towards how Vision Zero could be adapted for Sarasota County. An examination of over a dozen Vision Zero programs from various cities and counties was conducted which resulted in the selection of the following five programs for detailed examination and review.

• Hillsborough County, FL • Miami-Dade County, FL • Montgomery County, MD • City of Fort Lauderdale, FL • City of Austin, TX

The five programs were selected due to either their geographic proximity to Sarasota County, their significant progress towards achieving their Vision Zero goal, their strong policy and implementation efforts, or some combination of these factors. The following is a summary of the Vision Zero program reviews.

Hillsborough County, FL

The Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) along with Hillsborough County, the City of Tampa, the City of Temple Terrace, the City of Plant City, and the Hillsborough County School District adopted resolutions between 2015 and 2017 committing themselves to Vision Zero. In December of 2017, the Hillsborough County MPO, in collaboration with the local jurisdictions, school district, and law enforcement adopted their Vision Zero Action Plan that laid-out the pathway towards zero.

The MPO’s Action Plan provides an overview of the fatal and serious injury crashes in the County, where they occur, and the trends in causal factors identified in the crash reports.

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The Plan identified the top 20 severe injury crash corridors within the county based on the rate of fatal and serious injury crashes per mile. Additionally, the Plan focuses on several common factors of fatal and serious injury crashes including aggressive driving and poor lighting conditions. Upon defining the issues and identifying the impacts of livability, community, and health, the Plan organizes solutions around the following areas:

• Paint Saves Lives o Raise awareness among people driving of people walking and biking by using high-visibility markings on the transportation network. o Implement low-cost treatments to improve the safety of the roadway, particularly for vulnerable users. • One Message, Many Voices o Increase awareness of Vision Zero to influence safe behavior on our roadways. o Engage with victims of traffic violence and their families to provide them a support system and a platform for their voices to be heard. • Consistent and Fair o Leverage the capabilities and existing resources of the Community Traffic Safety Team as a community law enforcement partnership. o Establish a Vision Zero “Consistent and Fair” corridor program. • The Future Will Not be Like the Past o Update polices, standards, and procedures to foster a culture of safety in the planning and design of the transportation system. o Create a safe multimodal transportation system through good design, lighting, and connected facilities.

Each of the defined action areas identified goals which support the area and methods of measuring success towards the established goals. Timeframes for implementation were established and the action items were organized and grouped within the following categories, Underway Actions, Priority Actions, Mid-Term Actions, and Long-Term Actions. Lead agencies/departments and supporting agencies were also identified along with the needed resources for implementation.

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Miami-Dade County, FL

Miami-Dade County and the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) are dedicated to eliminating deaths and serious injuries from the transportation network. In 2018, the County and TPO developed a Vision Zero Action Plan that outlined a systemic approach to implementing safety countermeasures and polices to reduce and ultimately eliminate fatalities and serious injuries related to mobility in the County. Key objectives of the Plan include establishing a methodology by which crash statistics can be used to determine priority locations for improvements, measuring the ongoing progress of the Plan, providing a means to engage local governments and citizens, and offering specific guidance on proven safety countermeasures. The Plan establishes an ambitious goal of eliminating all traffic related deaths and serious injuries in Miami-Dade County by the year 2030.

The Action Plan identified the following four steps towards achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries:

• Establish a Vision Zero task team • Conduct a literature review to identify best practices • Collect and analyze data • Identify countermeasures to address fatal and serious injury crashes

The Vision Zero task team was formed from members of the TPO, Miami-Dade DOT and Public Works, Parks and Recreation, FDOT District 6, Florida Highway Patrol, Fire Rescue, the Department of Health, and various other stakeholders that played a role in guiding and developing the Action Plan.

The literature review provided the County and TPO with insight from other communities while working on developing the Plan and crafting a local approach to achieve the goal of Vision Zero.

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High crash areas along the local roadway network were identified along with contributing crash and roadway factors. This allows the County to focus on the locations and factors that are contributing to the most deaths and serious injuries throughout the county.

The County utilized a 5-E’s approach (engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation) to develop countermeasures to address and decrease the number of deaths and injuries along the transportation network. Each of the identified countermeasures contain an actionable item to aid the County, TPO, and their partners in meeting their Vision Zero goal.

Montgomery County, MD

Located in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area, Montgomery County was one of the first in the nation to adopt Vision Zero by resolution in February of 2016. A two-year Vision Zero Action Plan was approved in November of 2017. The Action Plan was followed with the development a 10-year Vision Zero Action Plan that was adopted in early 2020 that identifies the actions needed to achieve the County’s goal of zero traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2030.

The County’s 2017 Action Plan identified 41 different action items built around the following five key action areas with each assigned to a designated lead department with an associated outcome:

• Engineering • Enforcement • Education and Training • Traffic Incident Management • Law, Policy, and Advocacy

Additionally, the Plan identified high crash rate roadways and prioritized them based on the number of total crashes, crashes per mile per year, and crashes per 100 million vehicle

10 Vision Zero Policy and Strategies miles traveled. The Plan examined the rate of severe and fatal injury crashes that occurred in communities with higher rates of poverty, persons of color, and youth. Factors in crashes and crash trends were examined to identify where policy changes, infrastructure, and enforcement should be targeted.

Some of the major accomplishments of the two-year Action Plan include:

• Incorporating Complete Streets concepts into County design guidelines • Updating all traffic signals to provide more crossing time for people walking • Providing new signals and beacons for people walking crossings • Constructed the first protected intersection in the Mid-Atlantic Region • Improved park trail crossings • Implemented high-visibility enforcement • Collaborated with the State of Maryland’s safety efforts

The newly adopted 10-year Plan builds and expands upon the previously completed Plan by implementing recommendations from completed studies, advancing on-going initiatives, and completing open action items. While work on these items is currently underway, the County in engaging in a long-range strategic plan to further guide the agencies towards eliminating traffic fatalities by 2030. The new Plan had three primary components:

• Overview of accomplishments during the two-year Action Plan • Detailed list of new action items • Update on crash statistics throughout the County

To support public interaction and input, the County developed an interactive data viewer through ArcGIS Online that allows citizens to explore crash statistics using the interactive elements of the map viewer.

Montgomery County’s Vision Zero Data Explorer

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City of Fort Lauderdale, FL

In 1997 the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood-Pompano Beach metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was recognized as the most dangerous large metropolitan area in the nation for walking. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2013 ranked the MSA as the second worst area for pedestrian fatalities per capita and fifth overall in traffic deaths per capita. In response to these designations, the City of Fort Lauderdale committed to working towards zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries with the unanimous adoption of its long-range street safety action plan, Vision Zero Fort Lauderdale, in 2015. This plan established principles that stated that there is not an acceptable level of fatalities or injuries on the roadway network and that traffic deaths and injuries are not accidents, they are preventable crashes.

In 2017 the City adopted a 5-year strategic action plan for Vision Zero called Zeroing In 2022. This plan includes 12 objectives and 35 strategies that the City and its partners will advance over the course of the plan to achieve their Vision Zero goal. The Plan includes an assessment of existing conditions that includes a detailed crash analysis and identifies and compared crash trends to national trends and factors. The existing conditions were used to establish base conditions for evaluating performance measures. Similar to many communities, the City organized their Vision Zero strategies around the 5-Es and included a timeline for implementation, overall objective, and the implementing departments and agencies for the City for the City to coordinate with.

Fort Lauderdale has set many of their Vision Zero priorities and strategies as objectives and policies within their Comprehensive Plan. The draft 2020 Advance Fort Lauderdale Comprehensive Plan prioritizes improvements for vulnerable road users, coordination between local and regional agencies, and improving access management standards and oversight. Objective TM 1.3 of the Plan is devoted to Vision Zero and establishes clear policies and actions on how to achieve the City’s goal of zero transportation fatalities and serious injuries.

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City of Austin, TX

The City of Austin, Texas established a Vision Zero Task Force to study the adoption and implementation of a Vision Zero policy and report with recommendations in 2014; a formal Vision Zero Policy was adopted in the Austin Comprehensive Plan in 2015, and a two-year Vision Zero Action Plan was adopted by City Council in 2016. The Plan ambitiously set the goal of having zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in the City by 2025. The Action Plan uses a similar approach to many other Vision Zero plans by identifying policies and actions based on the following five themes:

• Evaluation: Collect, analyze, communicate, and share data that documents fatal and incapacitating injury crashes and top contributing factors. • Enforcement: Strengthen the ability to focus enforcement on hotspot locations of crashes resulting in deaths or incapacitating injuries. • Engineering: Bolster key initiatives for which Complete Streets design, traffic engineering, and transportation and land use planning can prevent deadly or incapacitating collisions. • Education: Create a targeted public education campaign to raise awareness of the severity of the problem and solutions and integrate Vision Zero principles into existing education initiatives • Policy: Identify and advocate for policies that will strengthen the ability to achieve Vision Zero.

Key implementing actions and progress metrics to measure the progress towards achieving the actions were created for each of the five Vision Zero themes. Additionally, the City’s Vision Zero task force has committed to monitoring and updated the Action Plan on a reoccurring basis to make sure that their efforts are having a positive effect on eliminating traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.

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In addition to incorporating Vision Zero into the City’s Comprehensive Plan, the City developed a formal Vision Zero Policy that states:

The City commits itself to eliminating transportation related deaths and serious injuries through a holistic Vision Zero approach. Improving safety through land use, urban design, transportation engineering, education and enforcement is the foundation to Austin becoming a city of complete communities. Safety is the top priority for the transportation system and requires a collaborative, multipronged approach using the guiding principles of Vision Zero:

• Traffic deaths and injuries are a preventable public health issue. Any death is too many. • People will make mistakes; the transportation system should be designed so those mistakes aren’t fatal. • Safety should be the primary consideration in transportation decision-making. • Traffic safety solutions must be addressed holistically through: o Education and culture change, o Enforcement and prosecution, and o Land use and transportation engineering.

Vision Zero for Sarasota County While it is appealing to support Vision Zero in principle, it is far more difficult to take the bold steps necessary to implement it meaningfully and effectively. At best Vision Zero has the potential to creating a lasting shift in how we design and use our transportation systems to prioritize the preservation and quality of human life. At worst, Vision Zero runs the risk of becoming a short-lived trend or slogan that falls short of providing real life- saving change. There is peril in well-meaning leaders adopting symbolic resolutions that fail to acknowledge and incorporate the significant systemic changes necessary to shift the paradigm of traffic safety.

Strong policy resolutions, whether originating from a legislature, an executive, or an agency, are a fundamental baseline for any Vision Zero effort. There are several options for how Sarasota County could initiate Vision Zero. As done by many other communities the County Commission could consider passing a Vision Zero resolution, a standalone Vision Zero policy, or integrate Vision Zero into the County’s Comprehensive Plan. At this time, the preferred approach, by the County, for adopting and establishing Vision Zero is through integration into the Comprehensive Plan. This approach still allows for a potential Board resolution or standalone policy later if necessary. The following provides sample language that could be used for developing a Vision Zero resolution, policy statement, and/or Comprehensive Plan objective and policies. These samples are provided as guidance towards the adoption of a Vision Zero policy and should be refined as necessary to meet the needs and requirements of Sarasota County.

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Draft Vision Zero Resolution Language A resolution is a statement of policy by a governing body that a specific action be taken. If desired, the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners could adopt a resolution directing staff to implement Vision Zero. The following is sample language that could be considered in the development of a Vision Zero resolution if this option is contemplated further:

A Resolution of the Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners expressing its support of eliminating traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in Sarasota County by studying the Vision Zero initiative.

Whereas, the safety and health of Sarasota County’s residents are our utmost priority; and

Whereas, the fundamental message of Vision Zero is that all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries are preventable and unacceptable; and

Whereas, Vision Zero is a comprehensive strategy to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and severe injuries while promoting safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all; and

Whereas, children, the elderly, the minority population, and people in low-income communities face a disproportionate risk of traffic injuries and fatalities; and

Whereas, the Board of County Commissioners desires to support the efforts of the Florida Department of Transportation, Cities of North Port, Sarasota, and Venice, the Town of Longboat Key, the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Sarasota County School Board on the promotion of safety and additional education through the Vision Zero model; and

Whereas, to continue working towards a future with zero traffic-related fatalities in Sarasota County, a Vision Zero Task Force comprised of representatives from Sarasota County, the County’s Municipalities, the State of Florida, and private nonprofit organization should be established; and

Whereas, the Vision Zero Task Force would create a Sarasota County Vision Zero Action Plan, which would identify priorities to data collection; traffic enforcement; and design and construction of safe roadways, intersections, sidewalks, and paths that could bring Vision Zero to fruition; and

Whereas, the Vision Zero Task Force would advice the County Commission and the appropriate committees on policies and ordinances including budget ordinances, necessary to support the implementation of Vision Zero.

Now, therefore be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Sarasota County, Florida, that:

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The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners adopts the goal of Vision Zero – that no loss of life is acceptable on our County roadways.

The Board of County Commissioners expresses its support of efforts of the Florida Department of Transportation, Cities of North Port, Sarasota, and Venice, the Town of Longboat Key, the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Sarasota County School Board on the promotion of safety and additional education through the Vision Zero model.

This Resolution shall be effective immediately upon its adoption.

Draft Vision Zero Policy Language Another option for adopting Vision Zero could be through the development and adoption of a standalone Vision Zero policy. This policy could be adopted by the Board of County Commissioners as a formal statement and directive for implementing Vision Zero. The following sample policy language was developed based on the principles of Vision Zero and from information gathered during the peer-review process.

Sarasota County and the Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners support the mission of Vision Zero to eliminate all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries through a systematic focus on engineering solutions supported by proactive policies, data analysis, equitable enforcement, and engagement programs. Safety is the top priority for the transportation system; the Vision Zero approach is based on the tenets that traffic fatalities and serious injuries can be prevented, are unacceptable, and that even one traffic-related death is too many. Achieving the mission of Vision Zero will require a collaborative, multipronged approach that believes that the following principles are important towards eliminating traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries:

• Traffic deaths and serious injuries are a preventable public health issue; one death is too many. • Safety, health, and welfare of the public are the highest priority in decision-making. The transportation system should be safe for all road users, for all modes of transportation, in all communities, and for people of all ages, incomes, and abilities. • Transportation systems should be designed to take into account human factors and should recognize that people will make mistakes and that those mistakes should not result in death. • Traffic safety solutions must be addressed through a collaborative and systematic process that includes: o Education and culture change o Equitable enforcement and prosecution o A multidisciplinary approach to land use and transportation engineering, planning, and design

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Draft Vision Zero Comprehensive Plan Language Sarasota County’s Comprehensive Plan establishes a basis for adopting and implementing a Vision Zero Policy countywide by establishing a goal of providing a safe transportation system and safe transportation linkages for all users of all ages. A variety of the Comprehensive Plan’s Mobility Element policies and objectives support and provide a base for establishing a countywide Vision Zero Policy. The following outlines objective and policy language that could be included in an update to the County’s Comprehensive Plan.

Objective

Sarasota County shall prioritize safety for all users in the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of all transportation facilities with a long-term goal of achieving zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.

Policies

• The County shall ensure that all safety concerns are properly considered in the design and planning of new transportation facilities and reconstruction of existing facilities. • The County shall use a data-driven process to identify and target high-crash area for safety improvements. • The County shall focus on the implementation of engineering, enforcement, education, encouragement, and evaluation methods (5 E’s) to reach long-term steps towards zero deaths. • The County shall use data, community outreach, and equity-based engagement activities, engineering, enforcement, education, encouragement, and evaluation measures and strategies for areas most affected by deadly and serious traffic crashes throughout the county, including an implementation focus on locations with crashes involving vulnerable users. • The County shall plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain transportation facilities in a context sensitive manner with respect to surrounding land uses and activity along or adjacent to the right-of-way. • The County shall coordinate with local, regional, and state agencies to ensure that Vision Zero goals and objectives are being met in all implementation areas. This coordination shall include providing safety and other educational training courses to at-risk populations and vulnerable roadway users, including at educational institutions. • The County shall develop a Vision Zero Action Plan that fulfills the requirements of the above policies. • The County shall conduct, as needed, in-depth studies of local rights-of-way and neighborhood circulation to implement safety and traffic calming measures and prioritize the implementation of recommendations related to Vision Zero friendly design and safe systems approaches.

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Vision Zero Implementation Strategies Upon the adoption of a policy the County will need to identify the pathways and actions towards achieving the goal of Vision Zero. Based on the experiences of early-adopter cities in the U.S., the following nine components have proven to be an effective high-level framework for communities considering a Vision Zero commitment. While these are not the only factors to consider, they are critical aspects to ensure a strong and lasting commitment to Vision Zero.

Political Commitment The highest-ranking local officials (County Commissioners) make an official and public commitment to a Vision Zero goal to achieve zero traffic fatalities and severe injuries among all roadway users (including people walking, biking, using transit, or driving) within a set timeframe. This should include passage of a local policy laying out goals, timeline, stakeholders, and a commitment to community engagement, transparency, and equitable outcomes.

Multi-Disciplinary Leadership An official Vision Zero task force or leadership committee is created and charged with leading the planning effort for Vision Zero. The task force should include, at a minimum, high-ranking representatives from the legislative officials, law enforcement, transportation (or equivalent), and public health. Other departments or practices to involve include planning, fire, emergency services, public works, district attorney, senior services, transportation disability, and the school district. Special consideration should be given to members who are invested in the concept of Vision Zero.

Action Plan A Vision Zero Action Plan (or Strategy) is typically created within one year of the initial commitment and includes clear, implementable strategies, “owners” of each strategy, interim targets, timelines, and performance measures. The Action Plan is the road map for achieving the Vision Zero goal of zero traffic related deaths and serious injuries.

Equity County stakeholders commit to an equitable approach to Vision Zero by establishing inclusive and representative processes. Equitable outcomes are then tracked by measurable benchmarks to provide safe transportation options for all road users in all parts of the County.

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Cooperation and Collaboration A commitment is made to encourage meaningful cooperation and collaboration among relevant governmental agencies and community stakeholders to establish a framework to set shared goals and focus on coordination and accountability.

Systems-Based Approach County leaders commit to and prioritize a systems-based approach to Vision Zero, focusing on the built environment, systems, and policies that influence behavior, as well as adopting messaging that emphasizes that these traffic losses are preventable.

Data-Driven County stakeholders commit to gather, analyze, utilize, and share reliable data to understand traffic safety issues and prioritize resources based on evidence of the greatest needs and impact. Specific resources should be identified and made responsible for the ongoing analysis of the data.

Community Engagement Opportunities are created to invite meaningful community engagement, such as select community representation on the taskforce, broader community input through public meetings or workshops, online surveys, and other feedback opportunities.

Transparency The County’s process is transparent to stakeholders and the community, including regular updates on the progress on the Action Plan and performance measures, and a yearly report (at minimum) to the local governing board (e.g., County Commission).

Actionable Steps Actions taken to accomplish Vision Zero should be clearly defined, measurable, and achievable. While every community has a unique set of opportunities and challenges, there are specific strategies that are fundamental in the effort to eliminate all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries. A common thread of Vision Zero is the establishment of a Vision Zero Task Force and the creation of an Action Plan. No matter the size of the community, the action plan lays the groundwork for the strategies and steps that will move the community from talk to action and help achieve the desired mission of zero traffic- related deaths and serious injuries. The following highlights some of the actionable items that can be put into motion to begin Sarasota County’s mission towards zero.

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Establish a Vision Zero Task Force One of the most important factors of Vision Zero is a commitment to a strong and active multi-agency task force to oversee efforts and to track progress. Because Vision Zero addresses interconnected systems affecting mobility, transportation, law enforcement, policy, health, technology, and communication, communities need to ensure meaningful interagency collaboration. This includes setting up systems that push beyond the typical silo-ization that is common amongst most agencies and departments, as well as prioritize partner coordination to continually measure and refine the Vision Zero effort.

Establishing a Vision Zero Task Force goes beyond just pulling people together. Rather, the process starts with setting clear goals and measurable targets. Additionally, the success of the Task Force and Vision Zero relies on strong leadership and meaningful continuous interaction, not just talking at meetings. Communities with task forces that have a formal structure, meet regularly, include senior level staff, and share data to coordinate messaging and next steps are more likely to experience sustained progress towards Vision Zero. It is also important to recognize that strong leadership and a strong commitment from elected officials can help push Vision Zero forward even when progress is slower than desired; remember that Vision Zero is not a quick-fix strategy and that it requires an investment in systemic long-term change.

While the Task Force may be primarily comprised of agency staff and high-ranking decision-makers, it is critical that the group engages with the public utilizing a comprehensive outreach plan that specifically targets schools, senior centers, community, and faith based organizations. Additional outreach should be planned for areas that have experienced a higher concentration of severe crashes.

Finally, it is important to recognize that most Vision Zero Task Forces have a specific natural life cycle. Three life cycle phases for task forces have been identified and are as follows:

• Phase 1 – Develop Plan and Establish Governance: The first phase of the task force should begin with the development of a strong Action Plan. It is critical that the task force helps develop the plan and has real ownership, in a collective way, over clear actions, strategies, and targets – all of which are explicitly defined and measurable. It is also in this stage that a governance and funding structure is established to identify project leadership and stakeholders and ensure well-staffed teams. • Phase 2 – Implementation and Monitoring: The task force serves as the coordinating entity for all agency stakeholders working towards Vision Zero. Holding regularly scheduled meetings that include agency presentations, cross-agency collaboration, and reports from each entity on progress against key performance measures is pivotal to ownership and transparency and necessary to ensure agencies are moving towards measurable progress. These meetings also allow time

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for group brainstorming on challenging issues, and unplanned or unexpected topics for discussion. • Phase 3 – Learning and Evaluation: It is important that the members of the task force are learning from each other, along with implementing Vision Zero efforts. Strong management that continuously monitors progress against metrics and reports that progress to the group is key. Learning and evaluation are both an internal and external process; while it is important to share data internally between the members of the task force, it is equally important to ensure that the data is publicly available and understandable. This allows members of the public to see how Vision Zero is impacting their neighborhood over time.

Develop of Vision Zero Action Plan Once a community has committed to Vision Zero, it should develop an Action Plan to clearly lay out action steps, timelines, and priorities and include broader community and stakeholder input. Any Vision Zero Action Plan must be rooted in the foundational elements of Vision Zero and the understanding that traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable through:

• The prioritization of proven safety strategies • Multi-departmental collaboration toward the shared goal of zero • A focus on data-driven decision-making • A systems-based approach

Vision Zero is not just “business as usual” with a new name, its core principles must be acknowledged and built into everyday efforts. A good Action Plan is a living document and includes a dynamic, iterative process to establish and implement strategies, evaluate progress, and make corrective actions as needed, all while engaging and prioritizing equity. The foundation of such a Plan including the following elements:

• Building a robust data framework – Vision Zero is a data-driven approach, and gathering, analyzing, utilizing, and sharing both formal data on injury crashes and community input to understand traffic safety priorities is fundamental to Vision Zero success. • Ensure Transparency – The process of establishing baseline data, creating the Action Plan, and assessing progress towards the goal of zero must be transparent to key stakeholders and the broader community. • Setting Measurable Goals with a Clear Timeline for Implementation – Clear, measurable, short-term and mid-term goals, combined with timelines and ownership from responsible government agencies, will create a framework that is easier to evaluate and fund, and will build buy-in, accountability, and transparency throughout the implementation process.

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• Be Accountable – Vision Zero is rooted in the shared responsibility among system designers and policymakers to design and operate safe systems for transportation. Clear ownership of Action Plan strategies is important to achieving success and long-term institutionalization of Vision Zero principles and outcomes.

Prioritize Roadway Design Roadway design is the most important factor that influences safety. Creating transportation systems that make slower, safer speeds the norm to protect the most vulnerable roadway users will result in roadways that are safer for all users. Strategies for prioritizing roadway design include: • Invest in safety improvements in high injury areas, especially within marginalized communities. Low-cost, near-term treatments can be used in advance of more permanent solutions. • Use predictive analysis to identify and improve high-risk locations before severe crashes occur. • Develop a rapid response mechanism and delivery timelines for safety improvements when fatal and serious injury crashes do occur. • Implement Complete Streets policies on all applicable projects. • Incorporate Flexible Design guidance into the Unified Development Code (UDC) to ensure that infrastructure design treatments consider Complete Streets and align with Vision Zero.

Focus on Speed Management In addition to roadway design, speed is one of the most crucial factors that influence overall roadway safety. The following are some strategies that can be employed when evaluating speed for the sake of safety. • Prioritize redesigning streets on high crash corridors to reduce vehicle speeds. In many communities it is found that a majority of the severe crashes occur along a disproportionately small percentage of the roadway network. Developing strategies to reduce speeds along the most dangerous roadways can result in big steps towards eliminating severe crashes. • Lower speed limits to fit local context. Understanding the mix of users and activities generated by the surrounding land uses can help ensure that speeds are appropriate. • Support a neighborhood traffic calming program to reduce the number and severity of crashes along residential streets. These programs can be designed to allow communities to identify their own problems and nominate themselves for projects. Utilize Impactful Education Strategies While roadway design and speed management are core to Vision Zero, education can boost the success of Vision Zero implementation. While this includes educating of people

22 Vision Zero Policy and Strategies about safe roadway behavior, it also includes educating policy makers, decision-makers, and other influencers about the importance of Vision Zero and the strategies that are proven to be most effective in order to make real change. Some of these strategies include: • Use data to identify and prioritize effective education and outreach strategies. This includes focusing on dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving, and driving under the influence, while avoiding overemphasizing attention on distracted pedestrians and bicyclists. Using a data-driven approach to proactively educate key stakeholders, including government partners and community members, about the leading causes and locations of severe crashes helps align efforts appropriately. • Develop a Vision Zero training manual to share with key stakeholders. Training can include high-level principles, communication strategies, leading causes of injury crashes, etc. Also recommended is requiring all government employees and contractors who drive a vehicle for part of their job to participate in Vision Zero trainings. • Develop multilingual educational materials and communication strategies. Included in this are websites, flyers, and other print material along with working with community-based organizations who have developed relationships and trust within the community. Ensure Enforcement is Equitable Roadway design and speed management are strategies that encourage safe behaviors, education helps to support those strategies and creates an understanding of safe behaviors that can reduce the need to correct for individual problems. The most appropriate law enforcement strategies focus on providing education on the most dangerous driving behaviors. While enforcement has a role in Vision Zero, it should not be the primary strategy and should be approached thoughtfully.

• Vision Zero should commit to using enforcement strategies that will not result in racial profiling or bias. While a commitment is not all that is needed, it is an important step toward equitable enforcement. • Enforcement focused on the most dangerous behaviors should be based on reliable data to ensure that these efforts are being directed at activities that lead severe crashes such as speeding and violating pedestrian right-of-way rather than broken taillights or expired tags. • Provide regular updates on law enforcement’s traffic stop activities. This is essential to building trust amongst the community for a productive role for enforcement. Understanding who is being stopped by law enforcement, where, and when, as well as who is ticketed, etc. is important information to ensure accountability. • Support a community policing approach as part of Vision Zero. It is important that law enforcement and the community share ownership, responsibility, and

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accountability for the prevention of crime, and that mutual trust between law enforcement and the community is essential for effective enforcement. • Create a diversion program to provide alternatives to traffic fines. Recognizing the disproportionate impact of traffic fines on low-income communities, offering a diversion program that offers education and positive reinforcement of safe behavior in place of overly burdensome fees can help ease the financial burden while still offering the opportunity to correct unsafe behavior.

Evaluate Progress Evaluation is one of the best ways to ensure that progress is being made towards the mission of Vision Zero and to determine if changes are needed within the Action Plan. The progress towards Vision Zero should documented and regularly presented to policymakers, agency partners, and the public. While there are elements of evaluation throughout the Vision Zero process, having a transparent and regular evaluation process can make the difference in whether or not a community’s Vision Zero efforts will succeed. The following are a few key strategies that should be considered when evaluating progress toward Vision Zero:

• Highlight and celebrate accomplishments but be realistic and honest about challenges. Be transparent when goals are not achieved, assess what happened, and recommend changes to the strategy to correct course. • Revisit the foundation elements of Vision Zero every time a goal or strategy is modified. A well-structured Action Plan is a living document that is utilized often and evolves over time; but it is important to maintain the foundation of Vision Zero throughout the process – do not ever lose site of the ultimate goal. • Embrace community engagement and equity strategies. These efforts provide opportunities to seek feedback from the people within the community most impacted by traffic crashes.

Potential Performance Measures and Indicators Having a set of clear and measurable metrics allows for a better understanding of the progress towards a community’s Vision Zero goal. The following are some potential performance measures and factors that could be considered when developing the Vision Zero Action Plan:

• Fatal and Severe Injury Crashes and Crash Rates o Set a target year for achieving Vision Zero along with incremental goals to attain every one to five years. o Track fatal and severe injury crash totals and crash rates (crashes per vehicle miles traveled).

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o Evaluate the crash data to identify the crash types that are resulting in the most fatal and severe injury crashes; highlight the involvement of vulnerable roadway users, such as people walking, biking, or riding motorcycles. • Number of individuals who attend Vision Zero training and educational outreach o Offer educational and training seminars for public and private sector employees who spend most of their time driving for work. o Conduct in-school instruction (assemblies or classroom) on safe mobility. • Training hours for law enforcement o Emphasize how and why certain communities have historically been disproportionately affected by fatal and severe injury crashes. o Incorporate education on laws and safe behavior for people walking and biking into the regular law enforcement training curriculum. • Number of traffic law offenders who undergo an educational traffic diversion program o Establish a program where those who receive certain types of traffic citations have the choice to take a free or reduced cost traffic safety course in leu of a fine and/or points on a driver’s license. This encourages safe behavior and offers lower-income individuals a way of avoiding costly citations. o Number of safety audits with members of the community o Conduct walking and biking safety audits along high crash urban corridors to identify mitigating solutions while educating members of the community on traffic safety. This approach also helps to build trust with the local community and provides decision-makers with the opportunity to learn from those who use the street every day. • Number of roadway miles with reduced posted speed limits o Focus on the identified high injury crash roadway network. o Generally, reduction of posted speed limits will require additional engineering changes to reinforce the new lower speeds. Consider the funding requirements of these potential changes. • Length of the sidewalk network o Set an annual goal for number of miles of new and reconstructed sidewalks. o Prioritize improvements along high injury crash corridors and connections to high-use activities like transit stops, schools, parks, community facilities, and retail. • Length of low-stress bicycle network o Set an annual goal for number of miles of new, low-stress bicycle facilities. o Prioritize facilities along the high injury crash network, connections to existing low-stress bicycle facilities, and linking residential areas to destinations, such as schools, parks, and employment centers. o Could be done in conjunction with a reevaluation of bicycle facility standards.

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• Vision Zero priorities built into the Comprehensive Plan o The relative safety of the transportation system is influenced by many public realm factors that are broadly influenced by the Comprehensive Plan, such as policies focused solely on increasing roadway capacity or reducing delay for cars. o In addition to transportation focused plans, land use, development, urban design, community plans, housing, schools, and health policies all play a role in achieving Vision Zero by encouraging the development of communities that can be safely traversed by all people.

Conclusion Though the metrics of success are simple, there are no shortcuts or compromises in achieving the goals of Vision Zero: one fatality or serious injury is one too many. A strong commitment to Vision Zero through decision-maker and community commitment, actionable policy, and a clearly defined Action Plan will serve as a road map for success in the County’s Vision Zero efforts.