A task force just released the “Vision Zero Action Plan.” It has a goal to eliminate all deaths and life-changing injuries on Eugene’s streets by 2035.
The Eugene City Council officially adopted the Vision Zero policy in the Fall of 2015. That’s after three young children were hit and killed while trying to cross Main Street in Springfield with their mom. Transportation advocates throughout Lane County put more pressure on city governments to make streets safer.
The plan cites the top causes of crashes: street design, dangerous driver choices, and impairment. Larisa Varela is Associate Transportation Planner for the city. She says it’s hard to shift the needle on human behavior but there are ways change it.
“Just lowering the posted speed limit," Varela says. "Creating a kind of separated spaces between people driving, biking and walking—so having maybe a protected buffered bike lane and a sidewalk. Putting cross walks in so that if there’s a long distance between intersections a person still has a place where they can cross.”
On average, there is a death or major injury on Eugene streets every 8 days.
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