Urban

Nice News -  In 2015, 89-year-old Agnes Accera died crossing the street in Hoboken, New Jersey. Mayor Ravi Bhalla, then a city council member, now cites her death as the “trigger that we needed to take action,” he told the Associated Press. That action has worked: Hoboken, a popular commuter hub with a population around 60,000, hasn’t had a traffic-related death in seven years.  ​When Bhalla took office as mayor in 2018, he began instituting Vision Zero, a set of traffic safety guidelines that originated in Sweden in the 1990s. Following those guidelines, Hoboken has integrated lower speed limits, staggered traffic lights, and, most impactfully, daylighting.  Daylighting involves removing car parking near intersections to improve visibility and pedestrian safety, and it’s credited as one of the primary reasons for Hoboken’s success. As aspects of Vision Zero reach other areas around the U.S., the New Jersey city is proof that it’s possible to achieve zero traffic fatalities.