Cars are scary, they’re fast and heavy, and if they hit something, it’s likely someone’s going to get hurt. This is why we have countless laws guiding who can operate a motor vehicle, what drivers are allowed to do, and how fast drivers can go. However, this hasn’t stopped an ever-increasing number of traffic-related deaths and injuries every year in most of the world. However, Hoboken is one of those few places where the opposite has been the truth. Hoboken hasn’t had a traffic-related death in nearly five years — and has committed to having zero traffic-related injuries or deaths by 2030.
Vision Zero is a movement started in Sweden in the late 1990s with the goal in mind of creating and implementing effective strategies to reduce the number of people who are injured or killed due to traffic accidents. Vision Zero strategies and ideas are in place all over Europe and are starting to become more prevalent in North America and have contributed to walkability and reduced the number of injuries and deaths caused by street traffic. Hoboken joined the Vision Zero community in 2021, which involved creating an action plan that can be read on the Hoboken city website and setting the 2030 deadline.
Starting in 2019, Hoboken started several reforms to make our streets safer. In particular, students walking around the city will have noticed that cars can’t park near crosswalks. This strategy, called “daylighting,” involves replacing parking slots with infrastructure like bike racks, extra large sidewalks, and storm drains. If there is nothing to add then the parking slot is entirely removed; this maximizes visibility so that drivers and pedestrians can see each other.
Now the city is adding two new significant changes to daylighting and a host of other smaller modifications already enacted. Firstly, Hoboken has expanded the city’s school zones to include all K-12 schools and has mandated a 15 m.p.h. speed limit—down from the city’s normal 20 m.p.h. limit—within these school zones. Hoboken public safety director Ken Ferrante said of the change “Even a 5 m.p.h. difference will make it easier for drivers to be aware of their surroundings, and react and stop when necessary.” Furthermore, the city council has voted to add five new stop intersections to improve the city’s traffic circulation. These new intersections add to eight others which were approved last spring. Together these two changes mark how much Hoboken politicians are dedicated to Vision Zero.
In the five years before all of these reforms, there had been 376 injuries and three deaths caused by traffic. In the first year of reforms alone, there was a 27% decrease in the number of vehicle collisions, an 11% reduction in cars hitting bikes, and 35% fewer collisions between cars and pedestrians. Since then, the reforms have made Hoboken safer every year and have put the city right on track for the 2030 goal.
