Vision Zero
Health by Design’s efforts and broader mission is to ensure that Indiana communities (and beyond!) have neighborhoods, public spaces, and transportation infrastructure that promote active, multi-modal transportation options and lead to vibrant, thriving places.
What is Vision Zero?
Vision Zero is a commitment to eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries. It recognizes that people make mistakes, but that our streets and roadways should be designed so those mistakes don’t cost lives. The goal prioritizes safe travel for everyone, whether walking, biking, riding, rolling, or driving.
Rooted in the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe System Approach, the Vision Zero Framework provides us with a path to zero, while reminding us that we all have a role to play in making our streets and roadways safer for everyone.
Vision Zero Framework
Vision Zero requires a shift in our traditional car-centric planning to a broader traffic safety culture rooted in the Safe System Approach. For Health by Design, this means identifying and promoting programs, projects, and policies that apply the latest research and best practices to help communities across Indiana to enhance traffic safety and influence positive community change.
State / Local policies and ordinances that include:
- Clear goal of eliminating traffic fatalities
- Government commitment, cooperation among agencies
- Robust community engagement and action planning
- Data-informed investments in safety infrastructure
- Context specific roadway design standards, speed control through design
- Creation of safety and/or fatal crash review task forces
- Proactive, “quick-build” countermeasures and interventions
- Capital Improvements Process that includes safety evaluations, audits, and prioritizes high-injury corridors and intersections
Available tools and plans:
Culture Shift : Humanizing Traffic Safety
Most drivers prioritize convenience when driving, but once out of their cars, it’s a different story. This is referred to as the parking lot conundrum and recognizes that we are all pedestrians at some point, which means priorities quickly switch to personal safety as people navigate car dominated landscapes by foot or via mobility assist devices. It also means advocacy messages can get watered down or murky when they conflict with personal convenience.
Establishing a ‘safety culture’ and shared responsibility within our transportation systems is crucial to the successful implementation of Vision Zero. Communities committed to Vision Zero concepts and improving community safety must invest in community wide education campaigns that make the case in human terms. Highlighting the stories of people and families impacted by traffic violence, accurate data that underscores the benefits of protected bike lanes, safety countermeasures contributing to property values and economic benefit to businesses, and examples of community successes built around more walkable-bikeable neighborhoods.
Technical Assistance
Whether you are just starting out with Vision Zero efforts or already have an established program in your community, Health by Design can provide technical assistance to support your efforts on a wide range of activities!
Contact us at info@hbdin.org for all things Vision Zero and further assistance.
CURRENT PROJECTS
• Indiana Road to Zero Academy 2025 – Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
Health by Design, in partnership with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI), is expanding the Indiana Road to Zero Academy (IRTZA) to offer regional training workshops aimed at reducing serious traffic crashes and fatalities across the state. First launched in 2022, the IRTZA provides transportation professionals, planners, engineers, advocates, and local leaders with practical strategies rooted in the Safe System Approach and Vision Zero principles.
Thanks to funding from ICJI’s Traffic Safety Improvement Program (TSIP), the 2025 IRTZA program will host two (2) in-person regional workshops—one (1) in Northern Indiana and one (1) in Southern Indiana—scheduled for mid to late September. Building on the 2022 IRTZA, the 2025 edition will continue offering training and technical assistance focused on improving safety for vulnerable roadway users, particularly in Indianapolis-Marion County and other areas of the state with high rates of serious and fatal pedestrian and bicycle crashes.
Each IRTZA regional workshop will blend technical training with hands-on activities, guiding participants through the assessment of local conditions, evaluation of their built environment, and planning for meaningful safety improvements. The workshops will cover the core elements of the Safe System Approach, including roadway design for safety, speed management, community engagement strategies, data-driven decision-making, and policy and advocacy tools. A key focus will be on understanding the critical role of the built environment in shaping safe, accessible, and healthy communities.
We are seeking input and guidance on where to host the workshops. If you’re interested in assisting, hosting, or influencing where we host the workshops, we welcome your input here!
Additional Planned activities:
- Initiate and convene a statewide Vision Zero Working Group
- Ongoing support to the Indianapolis Vision Zero Action Planning efforts
- Statewide crash analysis
- Post-workshop crash analysis and technical assistance
- Evaluation, documenting successes, lessons learned and developing an IRTZA guidebook
• Indianapolis Vision Zero Planning (2025) – City of Indianapolis
Health by Design is providing ongoing support for the city of Indianapolis’ 2025 Vision Zero Planning. We wrapped up six weeks of community engagement at the end of April.
No one knows the streets, routes and trails of Indy better than the residents that use them every day. We asked folks to share their input and experiences related to walking, biking, rolling, and riding across Indianapolis. The resulting feedback and responses will inform recommendations for Indianapolis’ Vision Zero Action Plan to be adopted later this year.
ENGAGEMENT
Pop-up Engagement
Health by Design developed an interactive, five station pop-up format. Over the course of six weeks, HbD facilitated over 40 hours of engagement, visited each township at least once, spoke with over 275 people, and distributed 600 flyers with QR codes for the online survey.
Online Engagement
Health by Design employed an online survey and mapping tool as well. The same questions were asked online and in-person. The mapping tool also allowed people to identify problematic or dangerous conditions across the city. There were over 485 respondents, and the mapping tool captured over 1,400 comments.
DATA
Sample Data
This data illustrates the shift in mode preferences for pop-up participants when asked “How they currently get around” and “How they would prefer to get around”.
Sample Data
This data illustrates the top-ranked safety concerns reported by online engagement participants. In-person participants also cited speeding / aggressive driving and poor pavement in their top three concerns.
MEDIA COVERAGE
• Crash Data Analysis & Mapping
Health by Design and our partners are committed to understanding the landscape of roadway safety across Indiana. By collecting and evaluating crash data on an ongoing basis, we can observe and analyze crash trends across the state. The Marion County Annual Pedestrian Crash Data Report* is an analysis of crashes using available Automated Reporting Information Exchange System (ARIES) data, the system used by Indiana police to report on crashes. Our analysis and reporting look at where crashes are happening, who is at risk, when and where crashes occur, as well as the conditions that contribute to crashes.
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
• Public Engagement – 2024 MACOG SS4A Planning
In 2024 we worked with Toole Design and the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) developing their Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan. Our primary role was facilitating public engagement via in-person pop-up events, online surveys, and mapping.
• 2022 Indiana Road to Zero Academy
HbD planned and facilitated the inaugural Indiana Road to Zero Academy, developing a curriculum and providing targeted local training and technical assistance on implementing the Safe System Approach. Modules covered conducting crash data analysis, safety audits, action planning, public engagement, tactical urbanism, and evaluation. Through a competitive application process, five tactical urbanism projects were selected for installation in communities throughout the state of Indiana. Health by Design will be planning and facilitating another round of the Road to Zero Academy in 2025, check back for more info soon!
