Columbia City Council to consider implementing new traffic safety policy

The Mayor’s Task Force on Pedestrian Safety issued a recommendation to help reduce or eliminate traffic-related deaths in Columbia back in March.

So far, the City Council members have heard two presentations on the Vision Zero policy, a policy that originated in Sweden and is now used across the country as a way to address traffic deaths and serious injuries.

In the policy, safety is the most important factor in transportation planning, and transportation systems should be designed and operated so that user errors are not fatal.

According to a report from the task force, in the past 10 years there have been 68 deaths and 454 serious injuries on Columbia roads.

Several commissions sent in letters of support for this policy, including the Board of Health, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission, the Disabilities Commission and Public Transit Advisory Commission.

According to the task force, New York City adopted a Vision Zero policy in 2014 and the next year the city saw its lowest traffic fatality rate since 1910.

There will be a cost to the plan because the city will have to create two new positions; however, the cost is unknown.

If approved, the city manager would have to review the policy and task force recommendations and come up with an implementation plan by April.