Road to Zero Coalition

Published on: January 15, 2024

Experts Recommend In-Vehicle Speed Limiters to Prevent Car Accidents

A coalition of stakeholders is recommending that vehicles come equipped with speed limiters that would help motorists drive at safe speeds and reduce the number of auto accidents caused by speeding.

The Road to Zero Coalition is a group of stakeholders including automakers, regulators, safety experts and other organizations that are committed to not just envisioning, but also bringing about a scenario with minimal car accident wrongful deaths by the year 2050. Progress towards reducing the number of car accidents has been slow, and has, in fact, reversed over the past few years as fatality numbers have soared across the country. The situation became even more dire during the pandemic as the number of car accident wrongful deaths across the country skyrocketed during this period of time. Speeding is being blamed as one of the primary reasons for the increase in car accident deaths not only in Georgia, but across the country. Experts believe that motorists who became use to speeding on empty roads during the lockdowns have not yet adjusted to larger traffic volumes following the end of the pandemic and easing of travel restrictions. This has contributed to a spike in the number of people being killed in car accidents.

These car accident wrongful deaths are very preventable because they are mostly due to human error. Speeding, for instance, accounts for approximately 30% of all car accident deaths in the country. Curtailing speeding, therefore, is on top of the priority list for the Road to Zero coalition which recently called for the use of Intelligent Speed Assistance systems on all cars. These systems can alert the motorist when he or she is travelling at speeds higher than the posted speed limits. The system makes use of GPS software and other technology in order to identify the posted speed limits on the route and sound audible alerts if the driver does not apply the brakes. In some cases, the system can even intervene to reduce speed limits automatically by reducing power to the engine in case the motorist fails to act by applying the brakes.

Published on: November 4, 2021

Vision Zero, Other Initiatives Push Zero Accident Fatality for the Future

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

It’s been heartening to see a stronger emphasis on minimizing traffic accident fatalities, not just by auto safety organizations, but also by lawmakers. In recent weeks, a number of non-profit advocacy organizations have come together to support advocacy efforts as well as initiatives by lawmakers to minimize the number of Americans killed in traffic accidents.

Advocacy organizations like the Governor’s Highway Safety Association and Advocates for Highway and Highway Safety have spent months calling attention to the higher numbers of accident fatalities that occurred last year in spite of a 10% drop in the number of vehicle miles travelled. Those statistics indicate that we have a very serious problem with traffic safety in the United States. For one thing, too many U.S. cities are designed to make it easier to drive rather than walk or bike. Our transportation system, unfortunately, makes it easier to get from point A to point B using a car, as opposed to using mass transit or walking. Those are unacceptable realities, and simply add to the problem of our congested streets.

For our streets to be less congested and safer, we need to add bicycling and walking safely to the list of viable transport options. Safety advocates are calling for the installation of more dedicated and exclusive bicycle lanes in metropolitan areas, including the metro Atlanta region. Exclusive bike lanes are lanes that are meant solely for the use of bicyclists, and are separated from car lanes by a physical barrier that prevents them from coming into direct contact with cars. Experts at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute say that for bicycle lanes to be considered safe, they must be separated from car lanes by more than a slap of paint. Our roads need to be designed with the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists in mind. An overwhelming majority of metropolitan areas in the country are not designed to make it safer to bike or walk compared to drive.

Published on: January 28, 2021

Calls for New Administration to Prioritize Traffic Safety, Zero Accident Deaths

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Traffic safety advocates are calling on the new Biden administration to prioritize road safety, especially the vision of zero traffic deaths by the year 2050.

Road accidents can have a tremendous human cost. The new administration has a personal link to the kind of tragedy and pain that result from a car accident. The President lost his first wife and daughter in a tragic car accident in 1972.

Road to Zero is the nation’s largest coalition of traffic safety organizations. The coalition along with a number of other organizations, including Vision Zero Network, and Toward Zero Deaths, has called on the Biden administration to prioritize the saving of American lives in traffic accidents and the strengthening of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Road to Zero and the other organizations are partnering with a single goal in mind – to reduce the number of preventable traffic accident fatalities to zero by the year 2050. The new Secretary-designate of Transportation as already begun meeting with lawmakers. There is hope that the new administration will prioritize road safety even as it grapples with other more pressing issues including the pandemic.

Published on: November 4, 2010

Is “Zero Accident Deaths” an Attainable Goal?

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

As Atlanta car accident attorneys, we have been very pleased at the fact that there has been a decline in the number of fatalities caused by auto accidents every year, over the past few years.The year 2009 saw the numbers of such auto accident fatalities drop to their lowest levels in decades, with over 33,000 deaths.The federal administration has, in the past, discussed a nationwide initiative to focus on getting those highway accident deaths to zero.The Federal Highway Administration is finally embarking on this ambitious initiative, and has announced its decision to launch an effort called, quite simply, Towards Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety.

The goal aims to create a nationwide strategic highway safety plan that can be implemented with the aim of minimizing highway accident fatalities to the maximum.Last year, a workshop in our very own Savanna, Georgia had safety participants from around the country discussing ways to develop and implement such a plan.More than 70 agencies took part in that workshop, and the discussion was so fruitful, that the Federal Highway Administration has now decided to launch this nationwide effort.

So, what will a program like this include?The plan is to slowly bring about changes to American safety culture by focusing on stronger leadership and community participation.The program aims to include better highway safety through engineering (better construction design and maintenance) enforcement of laws, education of motorists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, stronger emergency medical services to prevent deaths after an accident, stronger public health initiatives, enhanced communication services and other measures.The ultimate goal is to save lives every time there is an accident.