The city where traffic fatalities vanished
A U.S. city of 60,000 people would typically see around six to eight traffic fatalities every year. But Hoboken, New Jersey? They haven’t had a single fatal crash for nine years — since Jan. 17, 2017, to be exact. Reasons to be Cheerful examines how Hoboken made its streets so safe.
Campaigns for seatbelts, lower speed limits and sober driving have brought national death tolls from car crashes down from a peak in the first half of the 20th century. However, many still assume some traffic deaths as an unavoidable cost of car culture.
The global Vision Zero movement, by contrast, believes traffic deaths aren’t inevitable, celebrating Hoboken and related milestones in larger cities like Helsinki, Finland, as proof of what can be achieved. By studying which factors contribute to local crash fatalities, Vision Zero proponents say, communities can decide to change policies, infrastructure and human behavior to reduce the likelihood of fatal accidents…