Dallas Aims to Eliminate Traffic Fatalities by 2030 Through Vision Zero Plan

Dallas has an expensive plan for reducing vehicle accidents at dangerous intersections, and they’ve set a goal of zero traffic fatalities by the year 2030. 

More than 35,000 vehicle crashes occurred in Dallas last year, and 199 involved fatalities. The Dallas City Council’s adopted Vision Zero plan aims to significantly lower those numbers. 

Director of Transportation Gus Khankarli briefed the council Wednesday on the Vision Zero plan and how staff hopes to implement it. 

Numerous state and federal grants are in play, and if a bond issue is approved next month, about $521.2 million will be allocated toward streets and transportation. 

Khankarli said the City hopes to leverage $8 million with partnering agencies into about $30 million. 

Reducing vehicle accidents and fatalities is clearly a priority of the Dallas City Council. Elected officials spent almost three hours discussing the safety plan during an April 3 briefing. 

Vision Zero is an internationally recognized strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries relating to automobile users, pedestrians, and bicyclists. It’s based on the belief that no loss of life is acceptable and that all traffic fatalities and severe injuries are preventable, according to Khankarli’s presentation. 

“Our focus is to try to prevent the fatality crashes from taking place,” Khankarli said. “Across the board, other cities are also struggling with this process.”

Austin and Houston have seen fatalities rise since they adopted similar plans. 

“It’s a major challenge as cities try to implement the Vision Zero concept,” he said. 

Watch the April 3 meeting here. The City of Dallas issued a press release on “The Next Phase of Vision Zero” Thursday afternoon. 

Contributing Factors to Vehicle Crashes

Speed, distraction, impairment, and failure to yield right-of-way — or a combination of those factors — are common contributors to vehicle crashes. An accident is 40 times more likely to become a fatality when an involved individual is not wearing a seatbelt, Khankarli said. 

Individual studies have been conducted on dangerous roadways including Ferguson Road, Gaston Avenue, Lake June Road, Mountain Creek Drive, and Clarendon Drive. Fourteen additional studies are in “project kickoff status,” Khankarli said. 

A “High Injury Network” was identified to highlight some of the most dangerous areas in Dallas.  The cost to complete a corridor study is about $75,000 per lane mile and takes about a year to complete. Vision Zero aims to evaluate an average of five corridors on the HIN per year. 

The challenge of reducing traffic accidents is both complex and complicated, Khankarli said. 

“Complicated is difficult to handle but we know what the action and reaction could be,” he said. “In a complex environment, uncertainty rules. We can do it and we will do it.” 

Council Weighs in on Vision Zero

Councilwoman Paula Blackmon’s District 9, which covers East Dallas and White Rock Lake, has seen numerous fatalities this year. 

Several of the roads in D9 are under the Texas Department of Transportation jurisdiction, Blackmon said. 

“They’re six-lane highways,” she said. “They were created to move A to B as fast as possible, not considering neighborhoods, people, bikes, or anything else … It is obvious that they are speed traps. They are harming our residents.”

She said she’d like to either partner or take control of roadways like Garland Road. Part of the Vision Zero discussion included legislative priorities for the 2025 session. 

Councilman Paul Ridley suggested an education campaign similar to the “Don’t Mess With Texas” anti-litter effort. 

“It galvanized people into thinking, ‘Well, maybe I shouldn’t throw that trash out on the road,’” he said. “I think we need something like that for combating red-light running so people think twice before they do it, coupled with increased enforcement.” 

DPD can’t respond to speeders in residential areas because they’re dealing with violent crimes, but that’s not without consequences, Ridley said. 

“Two hundred people lost their lives on Dallas streets last year,” he said. “That’s not nothing … I think this justifies more attention to enforcement. Like Chief [Eddie] Garcia’s hotspot enforcement for violent crime, target the HIN network, the 7 percent where we have the highest incidence of crashes.” 

Councilman Chad West said he believes the city is doing everything it can in the short term but asked what could be done in the long term. 

“You mentioned the Sun Belt and how we were built out as a city to move cars as fast as possible,” he said to Khankarli. “When we have new road projects that are coming up for bid … What are we doing to evaluate those that may have been proposed and bid on back before Vision Zero? How are we incorporating Vision Zero into current projects?”

Khankarli said Public Works had funding for the repaving of Ross Avenue. They pooled resources and took a proactive approach to “reconfigure Ross Avenue to more of a pedestrian-friendly roadway that will connect Lower Greenville to the Dallas Arts District and the downtown,” Khankarli said. 

“This is a good example of us working together and pooling our resources,” he said. “Now we have a viable project that does not have to depend 100 percent on a lot of funding [from other sources].”

Khankarli said the transportation department would continue to be proactive and nimble in responding to challenges.

Police Chief Eddie Garcia said enforcement comes down to staffing. There are 29 traffic enforcement officers assigned to cover “a very large city,” Garcia said.

“Yes, our No. 1 priority in this city is the reduction of violent crime,” he said. “There’s no question about it, but I can tell you that our traffic enforcement unit takes it seriously and we will continue to do the best we can with the staffing we have.”