Take Action
Children deserve safe places to walk and bike – starting with the trip to school. Vision Zero for Youth aids cities in getting from current realities to creating thriving, safer communities for everyone. Now is the ideal time to be sure that children’s safety is being addressed in Vision Zero plans and for communities to consider how improving safety for children and youth can build support that can result in safety for all.
Featured resources
Nine Strategies Cities Use to Prioritize Safe, Active Travel for Children and Youth
Engaging Youth to Advance Safer Streets for All
The Benefits of Slowing Down Traffic — Starting Where Children Walk and Bike
Creating Safer Streets: Vision Zero for Youth Overview
Focusing on the Safety of Children can Propel Vision Zero Initiatives
Re-envisioning School Streets: Creating More Space for Children and Families
Youth Leadership in Vision Zero
For community members
Your support is a critical part of Vision Zero for Youth. Community members can help by supporting efforts to improve safety for youth and encouraging city leaders to make change in your community. Here are a few actions you can take:
- Encourage Youth Leadership
Engage youth in promoting traffic safety by encouraging youth leadership. - Hold an Event
Hold an event like Walk or Bike to School Day and invite your mayor to join. The mayor can use the Mayors’ Statement (see above) and then get specific about actions they plan to take. - Use Events as Tools for Change
Whether addressing the need to make walking and biking safer for children and youth or encouraging them to be more active, events can be a powerful tool to start, grow and sustain change. - Lead Activities
Lead activities that encourage frequent walking and biking for youth. - Complete a Checklist
Use simple checklists to perform a walking or biking assessment in your community. - Support Safety Initiatives
Support safety initiatives such as efforts to lower speeds or install road diets. - Consider whether your city could be doing more to implement these nine strategies cities use to prioritize safe, active travel for children and youth and engage city staff in a conversation about it.
For mayors, elected officials and staff
The actions listed here derive from cities that are taking a fresh look at how they are protecting people who walk, bike, drive and use transit. Start with actions that suit the issues your community is facing and consider using an event to announce your planned actions and discuss how they will benefit children, youth and ultimately all ages. Critical safety factors include reducing motorist speeds in areas where pedestrians are present, shortening the distance to cross the street, and constructing communities where the buildings, streets and transit system all work together for safer walking and bicycling.
- Assess whether your city could strengthen how it implements these nine strategies cities use to prioritize safe, active travel for children and youth.
- Extend Safe Routes to School benefits to additional schools.
- Extend the safety benefits of Safe Routes to School to other places where youth walk or bike.
- Take a walk with city and community partners to identify needed safety improvements.
- Tackle tough issues such as the need for speed reduction. Over the past 10 years, areas around schools have served as spaces to begin conversations about managing traffic speeds and raising awareness of the safety risks involved in speeding. Many highway safety initiatives also start with addressing children’s safety because focusing on children is widely supported.
- Let the public know the difference five mph can make for pedestrian deaths and injuries in neighborhoods and school zones. See infrastructure and enforcement strategies to reduce speeding. See article on impact of speeds on pedestrian injuries and deaths.
- Lower speed limits in school zones or in neighborhoods where youth walk and bike.
- Use the Mayors’ Statement on Safe Walking and Bicycling for Youth to show a commitment:
- The ability of people to safely walk and bicycle is a vital part of what makes communities thrive. We recognize that by creating opportunities for children and youth to safely walk and bicycle, we can benefit people of all ages, abilities and resources. My community is committed to work to promote safe walking and bicycling and to eliminate fatal and serious traffic crashes among all road users. Now is the time to act. We know the benefits this would bring to the health and well-being of our children, our communities, and the nation are immeasurable.
- Commit to working with others to create a Vision Zero plan for your city. View the Vision Zero plans developed by cities.
- Commit to improving safety behaviors of all road users through education and enforcement.
- Commit to infrastructure improvements. See a list of infrastructure improvements and issues they address.
- Work with your transportation staff to apply for infrastructure funding.
- Include a line item in your next budget for school traffic safety improvements.
For more information
Vision Zero in the US
- Vision Zero Network
The Vision Zero Network is a collaborative campaign aimed at building the momentum and advancing the shift toward safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. The Network supports communities through technical assistance, highlights of recent research, the Focus Cities program and guidance documents. - Road to Zero Coalition
The Road to Zero Coalition aims to bring together a growing number of agencies and organizations with the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths by 2050. The Coalition’s Safe System Innovation Grant program awards funding to evidence-based highway safety programs that support the National Safety Council’s Vision Zero efforts. - Toward Zero Deaths
An initiative of the US DOT’s National Strategy on Highway Safety, Toward Zero Deaths provides support for state-based Vision Zero efforts.
International
- World Health Organization
Speed management: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners: Low-cost solutions to deal with speeding. - Vision Zero for Youth – Mexico City
Vision Zero for Youth report; Vision Zero for Youth Report Card - CityFix – World Resources Institute
Designing Safer Cities for Children - City of Bogota, Office of the Secretary of Mobility
“Child Safety, Bogota’s Top Priority”
Resources
- Institute of Transportation Engineers
ITE’s Vision Zero toolbox: Informative podcasts, webinars, and journal articles as well as a crowd sourced video analytics program that can help cars recognize vulnerable road users. - National Center for Safe Routes to School
Focusing on the Safety of Children Can Propel Vision Zero Initiatives (pdf): Tips for integrating youth safety measures into Vision Zero plans. - National Transportation Safety Board
Reducing Speeding-Related Crashes Involving Passenger Vehicles (pdf): Analysis of countermeasure for speed and recommendations for controlling speed to reduce crashes. - Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
- Getting from Vision Zero Plan to Vision Zero Progress: Commentary from city officials, advocates, and non-profit organizations about successful implementation of Vision Zero policies.
- Re-envisioning School Streets: Creating More Space for Children and Families: Five case examples demonstrate how schools and cities have made temporary and permanent changes to support active travel.
- Safety-Based Prioritization for Youth Pedestrian Travel Planning: Applying Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis to Youth Travel: Applies the steps outlined in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 893: Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis to present a process for assessing high risk locations for youth pedestrian crashes specifically.
- Prevention Institute
Vision Zero: A Health Equity Road Map for Getting to Zero in Every Community: A brief that brings public health perspective to the topic of Vision Zero. - Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Vision Zero and Safe Routes to School: Partners in Safety: Describes the importance and benefit of collaboration between Vision Zero and SRTS. - US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Speed Management Safety: A variety of materials on speed management and safety. - Vision Zero Network
Moving from Vision to Action: Fundamental Principles, Policies & Practices to Advance Vision Zero in the U.S. (pdf): A background on the guiding principles and efforts to implement Vision Zero.
Equity Strategies for Practitioners (pdf): A case study on integrating equity considerations into Vision Zero plans and practice.