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9 <br />EUGENE VISION ZERO <br />Crash Causes <br />An extensive data analysis of the City’s crashes from 2007-2015 revealed the following major <br />contributors to life-changing and fatal traffic crashes in Eugene: <br />• Street Design <br />• Dangerous Behaviors <br />• Impairment <br />The Vision Zero Action Plan lays out a series of actions intended to address each of these <br />contributing factors, leading to a safer Eugene for all. <br />Street Design <br />A key aspect of Vision Zero is to design streets that are forgiving. While we each have a <br />responsibility to behave safely on our streets, mistakes happen—and the result cannot be a <br />life-changing injury or death while moving in and around our city. <br />Unfortunately, our streets are not always designed with this principle in mind. This is <br />particularly true for our arterials, on which an astonishing 65 percent of fatal and life- <br />changing injury crashes occur in Eugene. Many arterials are built for carrying large amounts <br />of fast-moving automobile traffic. Most have sidewalks, but infrequent safe crossings for <br />people walking. Some also have transit service, which increases the need for crossing the <br />street when walking to the bus. And some have bicycle facilities, but they may not be the <br />safest design for the speed and volume of auto traffic on that street. However, it is not just <br />people biking and walking who are disproportionately at risk when traveling along these <br />streets. Despite being built for motor vehicle throughput, still 64 percent of life-changing <br />and fatal motorist and motorcyclist crashes occur on our arterials. We cannot escape the <br />conclusion that our arterials must be designed differently to save lives in Eugene. <br />Crashes vs. Fatalities and Injuries <br />Data we report here all relate to fatal and life-changing injury crashes. A crash is the <br />occurrence when parties collide on the transportation system. Fatalities and injuries are <br />the outcomes of crashes. When a fatality occurs, we consider that a fatal crash, even if <br />there are also injuries to other people involved. We count the number of crashes rather <br />than outcomes for two reasons: 1) outcomes would often over-count motor vehicle <br />crashes where multiple people are killed or injured versus pedestrian and bicycle crashes <br />where the person walking or biking is most often the only injury or fatality, and 2) the <br />number of passengers in a car is somewhat random and it can skew counts as well. <br />April 10, 2019, Work Session – Item 1