Vision Zero is Austin’s goal to reduce the number people hurt or killed by traffic crashes to zero. Vision Zero strategies include safer street design, evidence-based public policy, targeted enforcement and thoughtful public engagement to create a safe transportation system for everyone. Austin Transportation Public Works delivers on this goal through planning and collaboration with City and community partners.
- What is Vision Zero?
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Vision Zero is a comprehensive approach to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries while creating safer, more equitable transportation for everyone. Originally developed in Sweden in the 1990s, this proven strategy has reduced traffic injuries and fatalities in cities worldwide by treating crashes as a preventable public health crisis, not inevitable accidents.
Austin City Council adopted Vision Zero in October 2015 as part of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan.
Through a combination of safer street design, targeted law enforcement, evidence-based public policy, thoughtful public engagement, and participation from our community, we can ensure Austin's streets are safe for everyone. The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan includes key actions, indicators, and targets intended to shape future Vision Zero initiatives.
- Data and Tools
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Data informs all of Vision Zero’s initiatives, helping to identify locations where engineering, education, or enforcement interventions should be prioritized to have the most impact in improving safety at high crash locations
The High-Injury Network (HIN) identifies streets with a relatively high number of serious injury and fatal crashes. It includes just 8% of the city’s street network but contains nearly 60% of all serious injury or fatal crashes for all modes. Austin used the HIN to prioritize low-cost safety improvements on 13 High-Injury Roadway segments.
The Vision Zero Viewer is an interactive dashboard and map showing fatal and serious injury crash data and trends.
Austin’s Open Data Portal contains crash records occurring in Austin over the last ten years.
- Vision Zero Analytics
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Vision Zero Analytics reports provide in-depth analysis of ongoing safety initiatives.
Past plans and reports Informes anteriores 2023 Vision Zero Update Actualizacion de 2023 2021 Vision Zero Update 2018 Pedestrian Safety Action Plan 2016-2018 Vision Zero Action Plan - Partnerships
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Vision Zero's success depends on cultivating a safety culture where shared values consistently prioritize safety above all else. Over the past decade, Austin has strengthened this foundation by fostering collaborative partnerships and broadening Vision Zero initiatives throughout the city, region and state.
Vision Zero Leadership Council
Formed in 2019, this multidisciplinary workgroup includes representatives from several City departments, regional transportation agencies, and other organizations to provide guidance on program priorities. The Leadership Council has spawned important initiatives, including an Impaired Driving Action Team that has brought together over 20 local and regional partners using a public health framework to prevent impaired driving.
Enforcement and prosecution
- Vision Zero partners with Austin Police Department to target behaviors causing the most serious injuries and deaths through the No Refusal Initiative (impaired driving) and Vision Zero in Action (speeding and distracted driving on high-risk corridors).
- Vision Zero provides financial support for Travis County's DWI Court and Transformative Youth Justice programs, which address impaired driving offenses through rehabilitative approaches. These programs support the rental of alcohol monitoring device for indigent participants, aligning with Austin's policy of prioritizing behavioral intervention over punitive measures—an evidence-based approach that reduces recidivism.
- In partnership with the Austin Police Department (APD) and Austin Municipal Court, recipients of failure to yield citations who caused crashes with injuries must now appear in court and face higher fines rather than being allowed to pay a fine without a prosecutor’s involvement.
- In partnership with Austin Parking Enforcement, dedicated parking enforcement officers are assigned to ticket and tow vehicles illegally parked in designated bike-only lanes, reducing potential traffic conflicts by decreasing the likelihood people biking will have to veer into general-purpose travel lanes.
Education
Vision Zero conducts education campaigns year-round to address top unsafe behaviors that contribute to injury crashes. Campaigns aim to reach communities where they are, through various means such as in-person events, radio, television, and social media, with multilingual support.
Other transportation agencies
Vision Zero continues collaborating with TxDOT to enhance safety on State-owned roadways, which account for most of Austin's traffic fatalities. Despite differing policies and design guidelines, Vision Zero has strengthened this partnership by including TxDOT in City Fatality Review Board meetings, participating in Interstate 35 reconstruction workshops and coordinating on specific projects. This collaboration has produced tangible improvements, such as a temporary pedestrian barrier on I-35 to discourage pedestrian crossings. Since installation, pedestrian fatalities on I-35 have decreased significantly and several new grade-separated crossings are planned for the Capital Express project.
- Media Resources
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The Vision Zero Network provides resources for reporters on Vision Zero and recommendations for reporting on roadway safety issues. Key crash reporting tips include:
- Frame the story within the context of a systemic public health crisis. Include information such as any history of previous crashes on the street, the number of crashes and resulting injuries and fatalities locally and/or nationally, and any countermeasures that can help reduce the severity of crashes.
- Use “crash” instead of “accident.” Under the Safe Systems framework, injuries from traffic crashes are predictable and preventable.
- Provide context about the crash location. Include characteristics of the crash location, such as speed limits, presence of sidewalks, street lighting, or location of nearest crossing, among others.
- Use active voice and language to appropriately describe the people involved. Avoid statements such as “a person was hit by a car.”
- Avoid statements about the victim’s choices without further context. Information such as color or brightness of a pedestrian’s clothes or where they were traveling, without other context such as characteristics of the street, can influence how readers perceive blame.
Common Misconceptions in Crash Reporting
The following are examples of misleading statements that are often mentioned in crash reporting.
- “The pedestrian was jaywalking/crossing illegally.” There may be legal crossings in areas where there are no marked crosswalks. According to the Texas Transportation Code, Sec. 552.005, pedestrians may cross in a marked crosswalk, in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, or where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossings has been provided. Between adjacent intersections where traffic control signals are in operation, a pedestrian may cross only in a marked crosswalk.
- “Helmets are required for cyclists and scooter riders.” There are no federal or state laws requiring helmet use while riding a bicycle or micromobility device. Austin City Code Chapter 12-2 does require children age 17 and under to wear a helmet while riding.
- “The cyclist was in the roadway.” People on bicycles may ride in the street, and they have the same rights and responsibilities to follow the same laws as people driving vehicles.
- “The driver stayed on scene and is cooperating.” While statements like these may be true, they can be interpreted as indirectly shifting blame from the driver and onto the other party.
- Vision Zero Yard Signs
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Displaying yard signs is an easy way to encourage safer driving in your neighborhood. Our Vision Zero yard signs are printed with one side English and one side Spanish.
Request a Vision Zero yard sign
The Vision Zero team will follow up with you by email to arrange for a pickup of the signs at Austin Transportation and Public Works Department's offices.
- Please remember that you are responsible for maintaining your yard signs.
- You should only display the yard signs from your property.
- Do not place the yard signs in public spaces (e.g. medians, parks, etc.) or in a manner that blocks visibility (e.g. too close to an intersection).
Check out crash data trends on the Vision Zero Viewer
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