Since the creation of the Vision Zero Program in 2020, traffic-related deaths and injuries have decreased significantly over the past two years, according to The City of Madison.

The Vision Zero Program uses safety data about traffic deaths and severe injuries to educate and engage the community, along with implementing transportation projects to improve traffic safety. The program’s major principles are safety, equity, being data-focused and staying accountable.

Head of the City of Madison’s Traffic Engineering Division Yang Tao said the program uses data mainly to focus on traffic accidents that cause serious injuries and deaths.

“This approach anticipates that people are human beings and we all make mistakes,” Tao said. “So instead of focusing our energy on preventing all crashes, let’s focus on those deadly and serious ones so that we can reduce the number of people who lose their lives on our roadways and got injured.”

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A major part of this program is the High Injury Network Map, a collaboration between city officials and University of Wisconsin researchers. The map analyzes crash data within the city to pinpoint where fatal crashes are happening in order to reduce them, according to the City of Madison.

Speed management, engagement, education and enforcement are also major parts of this plan, Tao said.

Tao said last year, the Madison Common Council adopted a comprehensive action plan that was created by city staff and community members with strategies to further improve the Vision Zero Program.

“In our plan, we summarized those different strategies in a few categories that we called Safe Streets, Safe People, Safe Vehicles, Safety Data and Safety Enforcement,” Tao said. “So, you can think of those as a package of different strategies in those different areas.”

This plan, called Safe Streets Madison, prioritizes reasonable and equitable traffic practices to minimize serious injuries and deaths and enhancing bicycle and pedestrian paths and their accessibility, according to the City of Madison.

These initiatives encompass many city divisions, including Public Health Madison and Dane County, the Mayor’s Office, and police and fire departments, Tao said. The Vision Zero Steering Team and Stakeholder Task Force were also created at this time to engage community members, better identify problem areas and allow for as many stakeholders as possible.