After decades of making sure city streets get where drivers want to go as quickly as possible and comfortable as possibleCities across the country have slowly begun to understand this not exactly the best way to do things. While traffic fatalities are declining in every other developed country in the world, this is the case in the United States the only one where they still rise. Convincing drivers to care about other people may be an uphill battle, but perhaps the prospect of tens of millions in savings could change their minds.
The New York Times Reports that when New York City began implementing pedestrian-friendly programs it called Vision Zero in 2014, traffic fatalities declined. These programs saved Medicaid more than $90 million in the first five years of Vision Zero alone, according to a new study. New York City’s traffic fatality rate may still not be zero, but when you combine reduced traffic fatalities with tens of millions of dollars in savings, the only reasonable conclusion is that more cities are doing the same.
Between 2014 and 2019, traffic accidents fell by a full 30 percent. That means fewer people having their days ruined, but also less emergency responder traffic jams, fewer people with disabilities, and so many other positive outcomes. The programs, which followed a Swedish model from the 1970s, have also been a major benefit to low-income New Yorkers, who drive less in the city, and to black residents, who have seen the sharpest declines in traffic accidents.
One of the big questions researchers asked was whether the Vision Zero initiatives only curbed low-speed collisions like fender-benders, without doing anything to prevent more serious accidents. By comparing Medicaid data from NYC with six surrounding counties that did not implement traffic calming measures, they were able to examine the long-term effects of accidents, including things like the cost of physical therapy and prescriptions after an accident. In the end, they found that pedestrianization in New York City not only saved Medicaid nearly $100 million, but also reduced serious accidents.
Although the number of traffic accidents increased in 2017 and 2018, the same trend was also observed in the surrounding districts. Last year, however, New York City recorded the second-lowest number of traffic fatalities since the Department of Transportation began tracking the statistic in 1910. It’s quite clear whether you care about people not getting hurt or killed just trying to cross the street, or you just care about saving taxpayer money, the introduction of pedestrian zones and the favoring of People versus cars is exactly the right thing.