Jacksonville unveils a plan to eliminate traffic fatalities

In Jacksonville, motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians take their lives in their hands on local roads amid heavy traffic and distracted drivers and environmental hazards.

This year alone, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports that 80 people have been killed on local roadways, with 5,260 crashes with injuries.

And Mayor Donna Deegan has seen enough.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that no one should fear walking to school, biking to work, or driving to see family. Vision Zero promises a safer Jacksonville for every person, in every neighborhood — no matter how they get around town,” Deegan said.

Indeed, there is room for improvement. More than 3 out of 5 pedestrians are injured crossing the street. Nearly 45% of bicycle crashes happen at intersections. And more than 60% of motorcycle crashes involve drugs or alcohol.

The city’s Vision Zero plan has a lofty goal: to eliminate traffic fatalities and cut injuries in half within the next decade, as part of what the report calls a “cultural shift that prioritizes safety in transportation planning, enforcement, and everyday behavior.

The city has identified dozens of intersections where accidents are more likely to happen, and in an effort to remedy those conditions, capital budgets will eye traffic calming, pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure improvements, and speed management. Slowing down cars, the logic goes, will make people more aware.

“Mayor Deegan often speaks of a new day in Jacksonville,” said Matt Fall, Bicycle-Pedestrian Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville. “I believe this plan reflects that spirit. It’s a new era for transportation safety in our city — one where traffic deaths are no longer treated as inevitable, but as preventable. One where every life matters.”