When I read the news that Salt Lake City was creating a “safe streets” task force after the horrific deaths of children around our state at the hands of vehicular violence, I felt disappointed at the fact that this is a citywide rather than a statewide “task force.”
Transportation and civic leaders have brushed off responsibility for these “accidents” and blamed a few “bad apples,” writing them off as tragic but unavoidable consequences of living in a fast-moving, growing society. But the untimely deaths of these children, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers are no accidents. They were predictable and preventable.
In releasing the new, first-ever National Roadway Safety Strategy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pivoted our nation away from the 5 E’s that UDOT currently employs to address traffic safety and adopted the Safe System Approach which focuses on both human mistakes and human vulnerability, and designs a system with many redundancies in place to protect everyone.
These are not just dreamy ideas but proven worldwide strategies with real-world results, given the unprecedented amount of funding now available for these safety programs in the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These are plans being made with financial resources that come only once in a generation.
We need more than our capital city to adopt new strategies. State leadership needs to ensure that everyone from St. George to Logan will benefit from the same level of safety investment as Salt Lake City. That’s why I’m calling on Gov. Spencer Cox and UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras to form a Vision Zero Utah task force to help our state transition from the obsolescent approach of zero fatalities and adopt the National Roadways Safety Strategy.
Eric Kraan, Cottonwood Heights