The report takes a deep dive into the City’s progress toward eliminating traffic fatalities

It’s been one year since Mayor Gainey and Councilwoman Warwick announced a commitment to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries, known as Vision Zero. Achieving this ambitious goal requires a holistic approach and a plan, using tools such as education, cross department coordination, changes to our streets, and data.

While official numbers for 2024 are not complete, it appears that the 17 fatalities in 2024 marks the first year that traffic fatalities were below 20 people since 2018.

Each fewer fatality represents a loved one whose family who was not torn apart by traffic violence.

So what’s changed since 2023?

Today, the City released their first report summarizing what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve done since committing to Vision Zero.

When announced in March of 2023, BikePGH was excited as it was the third major safe streets policy initiative that we began pushing for back in 2014. The first two were a Complete Streets Policy, adopted in 2016 and a new Bike Plan, adopted in 2020.

While ecstatic that the Mayor and City Council announced the policy and more importantly, announced their commitment, the next step is achieving this goal. 

The First Annual Memo

The report starts with highlighting what they say are their five biggest accomplishments:

» Sustained Unprecedented Levels of Investment For Safer Streets

Here, they touted the importance and effectiveness of traffic calming, and the amount of capital budget funds that they’ve committed to changing the streets. 

» Kick-Started Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE)

Previous efforts never made it across the finish line, but the Gainey administration has put the first steps in place to finally bring red light cameras to Pittsburgh. Not only will this reduce harm, it will also help raise needed funds toward further road safety improvements.

» Expanded Education and Awareness around Street Safety

This section mostly applies to their efforts bringing Safe Routes to Schools programing to Pittsburgh’s youth. They will also be launching a Vision Zero Community Agreement shortly.

» Used Data-Driven Decision Making

Acknowledging that most crashes appear on just a handful of roads, they are able to better direct resources to the places that will have the most impact on safely. This also includes the creation of the first High Injury Network map.

» Cultivated Critical Partnerships

Before Vision Zero, many departments both within the city and outside the city (such as PennDOT) were not regularly coordinating a response toward this shared goal of reducing fatalities. 

This plays out in their Intergovernmental Working Group which meets quarterly and includes director-level leadership from City departments and other government agencies. This Group then created four subcommittees to get the Vision Zero program off the ground. 

The subcommittees include: Budget; Enforcement; Education, Engagement and Communications; and Fatal Crash Response.

Be sure to check out the report for a detailed listing of what each of these subcommittees works on, and their progress toward accomplishing specific tasks.

So what’s next?

We still have a long way to go to achieve the results we are all looking for. Here’s what’s on the horizon:

• Hosting a Vision Zero Summit with BikePGH in the Fall of 2025
• Drafting and submitting a Vision Zero budget ask for 2026 that is cross-departmental
• Expanding the reach of Fatal Crash Response group by also reviewing serious injury crashes
• Establishing a subcommittee focused on policy and legislative priorities
• Coordinating with the County and SPC on a Vision Zero Action Plan

We knew this would be a lift, but achievable if we work together. This report will be presented at a City Council post-agenda meeting on April 8 at 1:30pm.

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