Abstract
Since the early 2010s, many U.S. cities have adopted vision zero plans to enhance traffic safety. Vision zero plans aim to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries. A critical question remains, for whom are vision zero plans improving safety? Answering this question is a crucial first step toward enhancing traffic safety for different road user groups. So far, however, there has been little research on how and to what extent vision zero plans address safety for different road user groups.
In this study, we propose a systematic review of vision zero plans of the 100 largest U.S. cities to evaluate (1). How the plan-making process included different road user groups, including vulnerable road users. (2). How the plans accounted for differences in traffic risks through its analysis. (3). How the plans’ recommendations accounted for different road user groups within the Safe System framework. And (4). How the plans accounted for different road user groups in their outcome evaluations. The goal of the project is to (1). Identify the best practices of including different road user groups in vision zero plans. And (2). Identify the challenges of project deployment strategies to ensure safety for different road user groups. To complement our plan review, we will also interview planners and experts who were involved in vision zero plan-making for additional insight, including planners in the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems in the City of Philadelphia.
Our findings will help cities reevaluate their approaches to traffic safety planning and design better strategies to ensure the deployment of projects that are aimed to enhance safety for different road user groups.
Description
Timeline
Strategic Description / RD&T
Section left blank until USDOT’s new priorities and RD&T strategic goals are available in Spring 2026.
Deployment Plan
We will share findings with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) to explore strategies to incorporate vulnerable road users into the city's vision zero plan update and design measures to deploy and evaluate projects that are intended to enhance safety for different road user groups.
Expected Outcomes/Impacts
We expect the finding to show that there is great variation in the extent vision zero plans incorporated different road user groups. We also expect to find common challenges facing cities when deploying safety-improvement strategies for different road user groups.
Expected Outputs
We plan to publish our findings in a transportation journal and present our findings to the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems in the City of Philadelphia.
TRID
NA.
Individuals Involved
| Email |
Name |
Affiliation |
Role |
Position |
| xiaoxiad@design.upenn.edu |
Dong, Xiaoxia |
University of Pennsylvania |
PI |
Faculty - Untenured, Tenure Track |
| erickg@upenn.edu |
Guerra, Erick |
University of Pennsylvania |
Co-PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
| mryerson@upenn.edu |
Ryerson, Megan |
University of Pennsylvania |
Co-PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
Budget
Amount of UTC Funds Awarded
$36580.00
Total Project Budget (from all funding sources)
$73360.00
Documents
Match Sources
No match sources!
Partners
| Name |
Type |
| Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems in the City of Philadelphia |
Deployment Partner Deployment Partner |
