Sustain Charlotte concerned about the city’s commitment to ‘Vision Zero’ initiative (WCNC)
The city of Charlotte continues to see major growth with more drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists on the roads. In an effort to strengthen its commitment to safe travel for everyone, the city adopted “Vision Zero” in 2018.
The goal of this initiative is to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in the region.
“When you think about losing a person, we think about losing a valuable member of our community, someone’s family member and we think is there any number of deaths that we are willing to accept,” Meg Fencil, Director of Engagement & Impact for Sustain Charlotte, said.
Pedestrians are more vulnerable to being seriously hurt or lose their lives in crashes. According to city officials, there were 27 deadly pedestrian crashes in 2017. That number reached 32 in 2019 and dropped to 19 in 2022. Fencil said one traffic-related death is one too many.
“Distracted driving is at an all-time high, people using their cellphones while driving and our vehicles are getting larger and larger so that means more inertia when a person is hit,” Fencil said. “Larger vehicles hit a person higher on the body … they are more likely to cause serious damage to a person’s body.”