CALL FOR AN END TO TRAFFIC VIOLENCE IN NEW JERSEY

Support  the Vision Zero NJ Alliance.

Twice as many people bicycling are dead in NJ this year compared to last year.  Our state has one of the worst records of pedestrian deaths. Each year, nearly 600 people are killed as a result of traffic crashes on our state’s roadways. 

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Remember: These are not just numbers – these are mothers, brothers, children; these are people’s families; these are people who are a part of our communities. The crashes that took these people’s lives were not inevitable, acceptable, or fair. Our current transportation system favors speed and motor vehicles over the safety of people.

We need urgent action from our elected officials. Call on them to commit to Vision Zero and develop a strategic plan to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries on our roadways by 2030. Start with our state roads which make up only 7% of all our streets, but where nearly half of all people are killed or seriously injured. 

What is Vision Zero?

Vision Zero challenges the myth that we must accept traffic violence and the deaths and injuries it causes. It is a fundamentally different approach to our transportation system that prioritizes safety and focuses on data and road design to reduce the number and severity of crashes. Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all. 

This shift focuses on creating safer infrastructure and slowing vehicles down. Speed is a major factor in fatal crashes on our roadways. The likelihood of being killed in a crash exponentially increases with speed and current roads encourage driving over the speed limit by design. It’s time to bring new, proven, evidence-based road design to NJ.

Reducing speed, for example, by utilizing traffic calming measures can save hundreds of lives – especially in areas where people are likely to be walking or bicycling such as school zones. That’s just one example.

The Vision Zero for New Jersey Alliance (VZA) is a newly formed coalition of families, residents, organizations, non-profits, and others calling for an end to traffic violence. We know we can eliminate all deaths and severe injuries on our roadways through an equitable, data-driven process that focuses on safe systems and infrastructure for all, joining other states like Washington and Florida who have made commitments to ending traffic fatalities statewide and other cities like Jersey City and Hoboken here in the state. Every road in New Jersey can and should be designed and maintained to ensure safety for all users throughout the state and across modes, built upon meaningful engagement with impacted communities.

Join us in remembering those we’ve lost. 

Sunday, November 15th the Vision Zero NJ Alliance will commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. We join hands with Families for Safe Streets in New Jersey and remember the tragedies they have suffered through outmoded road design. 

We ask you to join us in a virtual memorial for those we’ve lost and participate by signing the pledge and sharing it with others. Please also observe a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. this Sunday in their memory.

We can no longer afford to lose a single life on our roadways. 

Signed by

Vision Zero for New Jersey Alliance