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Comment by chestervonwinch | Hacker News Reader

Here in Austin Texas, we have lovely signs to remind you of your imminent crash!

http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Sign%201.JP...

I love the "zero excuses" at the bottom. "now that we informed you of the danger, anything bad happening is entirely your fault and the city can't be held liable for its bad decisions"

I guess it might come across that way, but I was happy to see the "Vision Zero" thing in the bottom left. Vision Zero has been a very successful road traffic policy in Sweden.

> Vision Zero is based on an underlying ethical principle that "it can never be ethically acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the road transport system." In most road transport systems, road users bear complete responsibility for safety. Vision Zero changes this relationship by emphasizing that responsibility is shared by transportation system designers and road users.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero

I don't think any American city or police department knows what vision zero is. They frequently include the words "vision zero" in their plans or posts, but then car crash deaths continue as normal or even increase.

Using Los Angeles as an example:

https://ladotlivablestreets.org/programs/vision-zero

https://laist.com/news/transportation/2020-traffic-deaths-lo... for the graphic "Traffic violence in Los Angeles" showing the increase since Vision Zero was adopted.

Then you have enforcement issues like jaywalking laws, the wording and culture around collisions and referring to them as "accidents", etc.

The entire country was REbuilt (US cities were not always like this) around the car. Until that changes, no city will reach Vision Zero.

Same in NYC. There was some progress for a few years, but then traffic deaths rebounded. The pandemic gets some blame, though it’s a poor excuse for weak leadership and the trend started before that. “Vision Zero” has become the “thoughts and prayers” of traffic deaths.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/nyregion/traffic-deaths-n...

Our equivalent in Australia is a Black Spot:

https://www.snowyvalleys.nsw.gov.au/News-Media/Brungle-Road-...

Slightly different, as the Black Spot Program signs are on former crash sites that have already had improvements made.

We used to run this program in Poland too, but new signs haven't been installed since 2003.

Why not Red or White Spot?

I don’t remember ever seeing that sign. Where is it posted?

I've seen them while cruising S Pleasant Valley, but there are a number of road sections where they're posted: http://austintexas.gov/page/high-injury-roadways

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