New Effort To Reduce Philadelphia Traffic Deaths To Zero
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A day-long conference today will explore the ambitious goal of eliminating traffic fatalities in Philadelphia.
Nearly 100 people die in car crashes every year in Philadelphia, according to the Bicycle Coalition, which is spearheading an effort called "Vision Zero" -- aimed at cutting that in half by 2020 and eventually reducing it to zero.
It finds aggressive driving the biggest contributing factor in crashes, so the plan includes an education element, but poorly designed roads are at fault too and that's something the coalition's Bob Previdi says can be fixed:
"Line-striping, signalization, signs and you need a little bit of money, but given that last year, according to PennDOT, nearly a billion dollars were spent on insurance and infrastructure damage due to crashes, spending a few more million will probably go a long way."
Mayor-elect Jim Kenney is on board and will be sharing his ideas, along with officials from Jefferson's Injury Prevention Center, the Triple A foundation and Boston, New York and San Francisco where the effort is already underway.