By Anne Levin
Three years after passing a resolution to make Princeton part of the global movement known as Vision Zero, Princeton Council has officially launched its Vision Zero initiative.
The goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on local roadways through improved street design, public education, enforcement, and post-crash response — in short, prioritizing people over cars.
“While we have very few incidents of death and serious injury, the Vision Zero framework is right for Princeton because it helps us understand where we have problems and where we should focus our resources to solve them using a safe systems approach,” Councilman David Cohen said in a press release from the municipality.
In addition to serving on the Vision Zero Task Force, Cohen got special insight into the issue when he attended Smart Growth America’s Complete Streets Champions Institute earlier this year. The program helps local officials from across the country define, design, build, and evaluate Complete Streets in their communities (Complete Streets are “streets for everyone, designed to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders,” according to Smart Growth America).
“It was really worthwhile,” Cohen said this week. “The quality of the other participants, who were from all over the country, was really top-notch.”
While the launch of Vison Zero is significant for Princeton, efforts to make streets safer have already been underway by the town and by Princeton University.
“The Engineering Department has been really ramping up efforts for roadway improvements in the past few years,” Cohen said. “The Harrison Street corridor is one example. And a study of the Wiggins Street corridor is being done right now, to do the first improvements from Harrison Street to Walnut Lane. So in terms of the Engineering Department, this is not a big shift.”
But the launch of Vision Zero gives the initiative an official stamp. Among the elements is a Vision Zero Motorist Pledge, which encourages residents to commit to safe driving behaviors such as staying within speed limits and avoiding distractions. Those who take the pledge get a Vision Zero magnet for their vehicles to help spread the word.
The Vision Zero concept was introduced in Sweden in 1997. In 2017, the Vision Zero Network launched its Vision Zero Focus Cities program in the U.S. to encourage collaboration among leaders with a goal of zero traffic deaths. Starting with big cities such as Chicago, New York, and Boston, the idea gained traction across the country to include numerous others.
In Princeton, the initiative has informed key municipal planning decisions including the Mobility Element of the Master Plan, “which emphasizes a street design hierarchy that prioritizes walking biking, and transit over single-occupancy vehicles,” reads the press release. “Infrastructure improvements already completed — such as those on Witherspoon Street and Terhune Road — reflect Vision Zero principles, incorporating lower speed limits, raised crosswalks, curb extensions, narrowed travel lanes, and restored tree canopies.”
Cohen hopes to bring to Princeton some of the ideas and concepts he learned during the Champions Institute. Among those he remembers best was one that was focused on a bike share and scooter share program — something that has yet to take root in town and on campus. The expert on the topic was a woman who was in charge of its rollout in Washington, D.C., and is currently doing it in Pittsburgh, Pa.
“We’ve tried to do it here, with the help of the University, and it has been really tough,” said Cohen. “What she said, which made sense to me, was that you’ve got to provide bike sharing in places that are meaningful, where there are people who have a desire to get on bikes but don’t have one.”
Offering the program in a suburban community, where most residents have their own bikes, doesn’t work.
“But what about our hotels? We’ve got the Nassau Inn and The Graduate,” Cohen said. “And there are hotels on Route 1 where, if we could provide a safe route into town, it could work. People might want to bike once they arrive to stay in town. They might come to Princeton by train instead of driving, or they might drive but want to leave their car in the garage once they get here. To me, having the bike share could really help alleviate traffic. I haven’t put a lot of effort into it yet, but that’s one of the things I really feel most excited about.”
Visit princetonnj.gov/visionzero for more information and a video about the initiative. To take the pledge, visit princetonnj.gov/1099/Vision-Zero-Pledge.