Hawaii Island, like many municipalities around the world, saw a surge in traffic fatalities in 2021. Twenty-six fatalities to be exact. Each death and serious injury on a Hawaii roadway is a senseless tragedy.
The tool we need to end traffic fatalities on Hawaii Island exists: It’s the Vision Zero Action Master Plan adopted by the County of Hawaii in 2021.
What is Vision Zero?
Vision Zero emphasizes the need for data-driven strategies that prioritize effective solutions for eliminating fatalities on roadways. First implemented in Sweden when the Swedish parliament adopted it as the official road policy in 1997, Vision Zero has since spread across the globe and is gaining momentum in cities across the U.S.
Rather than completely blaming drivers and other users of the transportation system, Vision Zero places the primary responsibility for accidents on the overall system design, addressing infrastructure design, vehicle technology, and enforcement.
In Sweden, the result is a country with one of the lowest annual rates of road deaths in the world (three out of 100,000 as compared to 12.3 in the U.S.). What’s more, their fatalities involving pedestrians have dropped nearly 50% in the last five years.
In November, the County of Hawaii adopted an award-winning Vision Zero Master Plan. This plan is based on the Five E’s of safe system design: Engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation.
It was developed by a task force of county and public stakeholders over a year’s time.
In short, different departments convene regularly to study traffic crash data and develop interventions that increase safety of all road users: Lowering speeds, redesigning dangerous road conditions, educating road users, and using modern traffic calming enforcement techniques — such as traffic cameras.
The key to any Vision Zero approach is implementation. A challenge for the County of Hawaii, is that there is no one person within the County who reports to the Mayor and whose sole focus is on implementing the Vision Zero plan.
Our suggestion is that the County take advantage of the new Federal Infrastructure Law (formerly, known as the “Infrastructure Bill” before it was voted into law) to fund a full-time Vision Zero Manager who reports directly to the Mayor.
This position would be responsible for working with the county and the public to make sure that the action plans are implemented and adding to them as necessary. At the end of each calendar year, the person in this position would present an annual report to the Mayor, County Council, and the general public to present the strides that are being made towards the Vision Zero goal of traffic fatality elimination on Hawaii Island roads by 2030.
Jessica Thompson is the current executive director of PATH (People for Active Transportation Hawaii); Tina Clothier is co-founder of PATH and a previous executive director.