Vision Zero Update: The Problems, the Solutions, and the Focus Groups
The Vision Zero Technical Advisory Committee held 7 Focus Group meetings at the end of January and the beginning of February. These meetings were attended by members of the TAC and were facilitated by the City’s Vision Zero consultants. All meetings were 2 hours in length and included an overview of the problem (Focus Area) and a brainstorming session about potential solutions. A second round of intense working group meetings for each of the 7 focus areas will be held later this Spring.
The findings and recommendations from the Focus Group meetings will drive the design of the Vision Zero Action Plan. At this point, we are optimistic about the recommendations but will have to wait and see if the final plan has any true teeth! So far, it’s looking good, but the final document will be the truest test. Our personal takeaways from these meetings are:
Many safety efforts are thwarted at the State level
There must be buy-in from the City and Mayoral support
After a Vision Zero Action Plan is approved, a Vision Zero Interdisciplinary/Interagency Committee should be formed to provide oversight.
Form a "post-crash task force” to analyze the possible reasons for crashes and use that data to inform solutions
The City should be transparent and generous with information about why certain decisions are made, especially in relation to safety improvements, etc. In a city with such hostility and distrust between the community and leaders, doing anything to be transparent while also "educating," is a solid idea.
You can view the presentation slides from each of the 7 Focus Group meetings via the links listed below. The presentation slides and general notes from the latest TAC meeting (2/9/23) can be found here. We appreciate that these presentations are shared with the public via Omaha’s Vision Zero website and we encourage you to review them and get a deeper, data-driven understanding of the problems on Omaha’s roads.
The 7 Focus Areas:
Bicyclists and Pedestrians Presentation
Funding, Policies, and Processes Presentation
Impairment and Inattention Presentation
While A LOT was covered and discussed at these meetings, I am going to highlight a few interesting tidbits from each Focus Group.
1. EQUITY FOCUS GROUP:
SOS did not attend this meeting, but here is a slide from that focus Group that shows the traffic safety injustice on Omaha’s streets.
The problem was summed up by the consultants like this:
Higher concentration of crashes in disadvantaged areas
52% of the highest crash segments are in disadvantaged areas compared to only 19% of overall road miles
Black and Indigenous residents have a much higher risk of being killed or seriously injured on Omaha’s roads
94% of highest-risk roads are in disadvantaged areas
Justice can come in many forms, and street design and street maintenance are included in this. See these explanatory images of Ames Avenue in North Omaha as presented to the Equity Focus Group:
The general takeaway from the Equity Focus Group was later presented to the TAC as:
Need to educate everyone in the City about equity issues related to traffic crashes
Target funding to the areas of greatest need
Traffic measures must be equitable
Any approach must be multi-modal
2. INTERSECTION FOCUS GROUP:
SOS attended this Focus Group. Here are just some of the major issues with intersections:
Intersections are dangerous because they are areas with multiple conflict points between cars and cars, cars and pedestrians, cars and cyclists, etc.
Over 62% of the fatal and serious injury crashes in Omaha happen at intersections
As volume increases at intersections, so too do fatalities and serious injuries.
Intersection crashes are influenced by design as much as, if not more than, driver behavior
Speaking of design, while 44 intersections in Omaha average 1 KSI (killed/serious injury) crash per year, there are 3 intersections with 2 or more KSI/year. See images of the intersections below and imagine how much safer they could be with innovative upgrades.
Lively and creative discussion characterized this meeting. Here are a just few topics discussed.
Roundabouts
Colored crosswalks
Ladder-style crosswalks
Increased and improved crosswalks
Clearance intervals and leading pedestrian intervals
How to reduce red light running
High visibility enforcement operations aligned with education and community outreadh
Surveying pedestrians about crossing habits
Innovative intersection design and putting as many tools in the toolbox as possible
The slide below provides the overall general takeaways from the Intersection Focus Group:
The “variation of countermeasures by Area” is due to space. New developments could more easily accommodate roundabouts because of greater space, however keep in mind that two roundabouts ARE being constructed along Farnam Street at 52nd & 50th - so urban areas CAN accommodate these alternative designs sometimes.
SOS specifically recommended the following solutions:
Make left-turns safer, as San Francisco did!
Policies on crosswalks need to be improved so that more crosswalks are prioritized for ladder-style crosswalk treatments and kept maintained.
Add pedestrian refuge islands/medians
Daylighting intersections to improve sight-lines
Curb extensions/bump outs
Automated enforcement
Survey pedestrians crossing outside a crosswalk and use that feedback for better design. Conduct an audit at the location of desire lines.
Look at all pedestrian deaths that happened outside a marked crosswalk, and didn’t involve alcohol, and audit that intersection for improvements
Allow for cross-partnerships for colored sidewalks if the interim rule is passed - ie partnering with Benson First Friday or other arts districts with “maintenance agreement” with the City
Prioritize speed calming in areas up and downstream of major intersections
Partner with MAPA's "Block Talk" program to find out about potentially dangerous intersections AS well as raise awareness and educate the residents
3. SPEED FOCUS GROUP:
SOS attended the Speed Focus Group.
From 2015 to 2019, speed contributed to 22 KSI crashes in Omaha, which is a small percentage of overall road deaths/serious injuries during that time. While the data on speed in Omaha doesn’t seem robust, this is partly because of how contributions to crashes are identified on Crash Investigation Forms. For instance, an officer in the meeting suggested that crashes can have more than one contributing factor so the 140 crashes that were identified as “erratic driving” could also likely include “speed” as a factor as well.
In 2020, the crash investigation forms were overhauled and now allow for more nuance and more contributing factors, thus once data from 2020 to 2023 is released, we may see that speed is indeed a well-documented issue on Omaha’s streets.
You’ll see by this slide below that more people are killed or seriously injured on roads with posted speed limits between 30 and 40. Now, keep in mind the drivers may have been going faster than the posted speed limit, but if anything this helps the committee know the types of roads that deserve more focus.
See below for a just a few of the highlighted points I wrote down in the meeting:
The impact of speed on a pedestrian can be worse the larger the vehicle is
“Speeding is a problem in Omaha” - OPD officer
Posted speed limits should reflect the context - high vulnerability users, conflict points, etc
Engagement with the public to reach the goal
Cost share funding/cost share maintenance agreements
Break down the barrier belief that speeding saves time
High visibility enforcement with education and outreach
Expand on existing efforts like project nightlife and national distracted driving month
You can see the general takeaways from the Speed meeting below:
Automated enforcement is currently illegal in Nebraska but the Vision Zero consultants believe, as do we, that the Vision Zero Action Plan should serve as an educational tool to leadership as well as an implementable plan.
SOS specifically recommended the following:
No matter the posted speed limit, we need to make sure people follow the posted speed
Influence speed via lane width, intersection design, and multimodal infrastructure
Graduated licenses and higher ages for drivers
Since there is no longer driver’s education in schools, recommend partnerships to train and educate drivers
Grant all residents driver’s licenses
When a speed limit is lowered on a street, make sure to add the word “New” on the sign above the speed along with the city’s Vision Zero logo
Educate drivers on the illegality driving too slow in the left lane
Road Diets! (Our Favorite!)
4. HIGH-RISK ROADS FOCUS GROUP:
High-risk roads in Omaha are characterized by the following:
Major arterials
In the urban area
Without a median
Posted speed limit between 30 and 35
One-way roads
See below for images of just a couple of our local high-risk roads:
You can see in the slide below that the Consultant included examples of some great solutions to the high-risk road problem:
The general takeaways from the meeting (below), as presented at the last TAC meeting, seem to be more focused on the “promotion” of solutions than on “solutions.” So I contacted Omaha’s Vision Zero Coordinator, Jeff Sobczyk, for more information and this was his helpful clarification:
“The discussion in the high risk road section was very much about infrastructure treatments like speed reduction techniques, access control, road diets, etc. But the conversation really was focused on the fact that we have a good idea of how to reduce risk on roads from a technical perspective (and the city is already implementing many of these countermeasures), but that we need to have definite policy to influence how we can implement these treatments more often.
All of the technical aspects really come back to policy, especially policy related to how we select, develop, and fund projects; how we balance the needs of traffic efficiency with safety; and how we incorporate safety improvements into the private development process. That’s why our takeaways focused less on the technical safety countermeasures side and more on the policy/implementation/education side”.
5. FUNDINGS, POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES FOCUS GROUP:
SOS did not attend this meeting but we encourage you to peruse the presentation slides to see some of the existing barriers to good, consistent design in Omaha.
It sounds like a lot of the discussion at the meeting revolved around the inconsistent application of existing policy and planning documents such as Omaha’s Complete Streets Design Guide, the Transportation Element plan, the City of Omaha Capital Improvement Program (2023-2028), and the Guidelines and Regulations for Driveway Location, Design, and Construction.
The General Takeaways are listed below:
6. PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE FOCUS GROUP:
SOS did not attend this Focus Group but my understanding is that it was one of the most well-attended focus groups. While Omaha still does not have its fair share of safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, it does have a lot of great bicycle and pedestrian advocates.
The most dangerous segments for pedestrians and cyclists are intersections, major arterials, one-way streets, and streets without medians. Reminiscent of all our high-risk roads, right?!
Almost all of the pedestrian and bicyclist KSI crashes were on streets, NOT on trails, sidewalks, or shoulders.
See below for the slide that lists the General Takeaways from this meeting:
7. IMPAIRMENT & INATTENTION FOCUS GROUP:
SOS attended this Focus Group. This topic left us with the most “a-ha” moments! See below for some of the most surprising findings from this meeting:
Distracted driving is less of a problem than impaired driving, tho the data on distracted driving is admittedly sparse because we have no primary distracted driving law.
Alcohol contributes to more fatal crashes than serious injury crashes
Crashes involving alcohol are generally single-vehicle crashes
Crashes involving alcohol are usually young, male drivers and are not characterized by any particular race or ethnicity
Drunk drivers are rarely leaving a bar, so much as their own home or a house-party
The City DOES have an “overserve” law but it isn’t consistently enforced
KSI crashes involving alcohol are generally by “infinite drinkers” and repeat offenders
Omaha does not conduct “check-points” and it was mentioned that the OPD does not support checkpoints (not stated by a member of OPD)
Education is usually the least effective solution but it is still an important tool. Some of the most effective drunk-driving prevention programs are a multi-group approach called “mock crashes.” Theater departments at high schools will collaborate with local police, fire, EMT, parents, etc to stage a mock crash including a life-flight helicopter.
Check out just some of the initial Takeaways from this meeting below:
Until Next Time. . . .
And that’s it for now! The Vision Zero TAC is working on behalf of the community as well as the city and other agencies, so SOS wants to keep you - the Community - informed! We will continue to provide updates after every meeting. Until then, don’t be shy, leave a comment below and let us know what YOU think the Vision Zero committee needs to know!