Dear Austin,
October 2025 marks a decade since Austin adopted Vision Zero as official City policy — 10 years of working together toward a bold and compassionate goal: that no loss of life or serious injury on our roadways is acceptable. Vision Zero is more than just a policy or a brand — it is an ethical commitment, a public health framework and a growing national movement that Austin has been proud to help lead.
Since becoming one of the early adopter U.S. Vision Zero cities in 2015, we’ve seen the idea take root across the country, with hundreds of jurisdictions joining this movement and the federal government adopting a National Roadway Safety Strategy based on Vision Zero principles. This 10-year milestone offers an opportunity not only to reflect on our progress, but also to acknowledge the substantial challenges that remain.
The headwinds we face in getting to zero are many: an inherited built environment that historically prioritized speed over safety, uncertainty in federal policies and funding and the rising size and weight of vehicles on our roads, to name a few.
Yet even amid these challenges, we have seen real, measurable progress. Where Austin has invested in safety, we’ve seen fewer crashes, which means more lives saved and injuries prevented (see Investing in Safety graphic). This success is thanks to major infrastructure projects like the 29 major intersection safety projects completed since 2016, as well as thousands of smaller improvements like new sidewalk connections, adjusted traffic signal timing and better street lighting. These may seem minor, but to the people who rely on them, they make a world of difference.
The community’s trust and continued support have been the cornerstone of our efforts. Every day, I witness the transformation of our streets into safer spaces. And every day, our highest priority remains ensuring that every person in Austin can travel safely — whether driving, walking, rolling or taking transit.
As we look ahead, I remain confident that with sustained commitment, innovation and collaboration, we will achieve our shared goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries. Let’s keep moving forward — together.
Stay safe, Austin.
Sincerely,
T.C. Broadnax
City Manager
Ten Years on the Path to Zero
Vision Zero is based on the simple idea that no one should be killed or seriously hurt on our roads—and that we can prevent these crashes with smart design and data-informed policies. What began in Sweden in the 1990s is now a global movement to improve traffic safety and save lives. In the 10 years since Vision Zero was adopted by City Council, Austin has worked to establish partnerships, promote safer behaviors and invest in safe transportation infrastructure that data show is reducing crashes and saving lives. Here’s a look back at some of the key milestones for Vision Zero in Austin.
- 2012 – 2014 Chicago, San Francisco and New York become first U.S. cities to adopt Vision Zero.
- 2014 Austin City Council creates a Vision Zero Task Force to begin developing policy recommendations for Austin.
City Council adopts ordinance prohibiting the use of hand-held portable electronic devices while driving or biking. - 2015 Oct. 1, 2015: City Council amends the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan to add the goal of zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries as official City of Austin policy.
- 2016 City Council adopts the Vision Zero Action Plan and allocates $6 million in funding to improve safety at the city’s top five high-crash intersections.
Voters approve the 2016 Mobility Bond, dedicating $15 million for Vision Zero intersection safety projects. - 2017 Construction of the first 2016 Bond-funded Vision Zero intersection safety project begins.
- 2018 Austin publishes the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan to combat rising pedestrian fatalities.
Austin voters approve the 2018 Mobility Bond (Prop G), including $15 million for Vision Zero/Safety.
- 2019 City Council adopts the long-term Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, which includes Austin’s first High-Injury Network.
- 2020 Austin lowers the default citywide speed limit to 25 mph on over 850 miles of residential and downtown streets.
Austin voters approve the 2020 Mobility Bond, including $65 million for Vision Zero/Transportation Safety. - 2021 Vision Zero publishes a nationally recognized “Safe for All” report on racial disparities among serious injury and fatal crash victims.
- 2022 City Council approves speed limit reductions on nearly 50 arterial streets across the city.
- 2023 USDOT awards Austin $22.9 million through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program.
Vision Zero initiates the Barton Springs Road Safety Pilot in response to a crash that seriously injured 10 people. - 2024 Austin awarded $10.8 million in federal funds through two additional SS4A grants.
Vision Zero and Austin Police Department expand the No Refusal impaired driving initiative from weekends and holidays to year-round.
2024 sees the fewest serious injuries on Austin roadways since the formation of Vision Zero in Austin.
Photo Credit: Joe Van Wyk
Ten-Year Serious Injury & Fatality Trends
Data informs Vision Zero’s approach to traffic safety. While zero roadway deaths and serious injuries remains our long-term goal, tracking interim trends reveals progress and guides strategic adjustments.
Crash data extracted on 06/27/2025
Over the past 10 years Austin roadway fatalities have remained stubbornly high, peaking during the pandemic years (mirroring national trends). However, serious injuries have declined recently, with 2024 recording the fewest since Vision Zero’s adoption.
Serious Injuries and Fatalities
Serious injuries and fatalities among motor vehicle drivers have shown the largest decrease compared to 2015, while other modes have varied more year-to-year.
Changes in Serious Injuries and Fatalities by Mode Compared to 2015
Fatalities on City-owned roads have remained relatively flat but have been increasing on state and other agencies’ roadways.
Fatalities by Roadway Ownership
Austin continues to have the lowest per capita serious injury and fatality rate among the six largest Texas cities.
Serious Injuries and Fatalities by Texas City per 100K
Making Austin Safe for All
Traffic crashes disproportionately affect certain groups of people more than others. These disparities often stem from decades of transportation and land use decisions that created and reinforced inequities, a dynamic Vision Zero explored in-depth in its nationally-recognized Equity StoryMap .
Which Communities Face the Greatest Risk?
People of color are overrepresented among severe crash victims, particularly Black Austinites, who comprise 15% of those killed or seriously injured but only 7.5% of the population—a two-fold overrepresentation that has remained steady for 10 years.
Low-income communities in Austin experience four times as many serious and fatal traffic injuries per capita as high-income areas. These disparities likely reflect increased exposure to wide, high-speed roadways1 and financial barriers to access vehicles with modern safety features2.
Men make up about two-thirds of serious injuries and three-quarters of fatalities, likely due to higher rates of risky behaviors like speeding, impaired driving, and aggressive driving recorded among younger men.
People experiencing homelessness face heightened exposure to high-speed roadways, with crashes ranking as the second leading cause of death in this population after overdoses. Austin data indicates that between 40–60% of bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities are suspected to be people experiencing homelessness.
1 FHWA research on roadway design and safety
2 Access to vehicle safety features and outcomes
Addressing Disparities
Understanding this context is essential to address today’s severe crash patterns, and Vision Zero has worked to confront these disparities through targeted initiatives and community-centered approaches.
Building a Culture of Safety
Vision Zero’s success depends on cultivating a safety culture where shared values consistently prioritize safety above all else. Over the past decade, Austin has strengthened this foundation by building internal capacity, fostering collaborative partnerships and broadening Vision Zero initiatives throughout the city and state.
Internal Capacity Building
Vision Zero has transformed Austin’s safety data capabilities by creating comprehensive business intelligence tools and interactive maps for staff and community use. These resources enable quick identification of problem areas and intervention prioritization.
Vision Zero has helped integrate Safe System design principles within City policy documents governing street design and has led to the development of guidelines for pedestrian crossings, access management treatments and traffic signalization strategies.
Vision Zero Leadership Council
Formed in 2019, this multidisciplinary workgroup includes representatives from several City departments, regional transportation agencies and other organizations to provide guidance on program priorities. The Leadership Council has spawned important initiatives, including an Impaired Driving Action Team which has brought together over 20 local and regional partners using a public health framework to prevent impaired driving.
Vision Zero Alliance
The Alliance includes representatives from City boards and commissions, nonprofit groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Safe Streets Austin, institutional partners like the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and individual traffic safety advocates. This stakeholder group provides input and feedback on Vision Zero program initiatives.
Interagency Coordination
Vision Zero regularly coordinates with partner transportation agencies like TxDOT, CAMPO, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, CapMetro, Travis County and others to ensure safety is prioritized regardless of who owns or operates transportation facilities in Austin.
For example, Vision Zero collaborates with TxDOT to improve safety on state-owned roadways, which account for most of Austin’s traffic fatalities. This partnership includes TxDOT participation in City Fatality Review Board meetings, Interstate 35 reconstruction workshops and project coordination. A notable win was the installation of temporary pedestrian barriers on I-35. Since installation, pedestrian fatalities on these sections of I-35 have decreased and several grade-separated crossings are now planned for the Capital Express project as a long-term solution to provide greater connectivity.
Designing for Safety
Vision Zero seeks to create a transportation system that protects human life, even when people inevitably make mistakes. Thanks to voter-approved bond funding and federal grants, Austin has made significant progress over the past 10 years in redesigning the transportation system for safety.
Vision Zero has completed 29 major intersection projects, over 12 miles of street lighting improvements, 28 speed management projects, and low-cost, systemic safety improvements like access management treatments and traffic signal upgrades at hundreds more locations. In the past few years Vision Zero has focused on more comprehensive multimodal safety corridors, including improvements to Bluff Springs Road, Barton Springs Road and Cameron Road/Dessau Road.
In addition to Vision Zero-sponsored projects, there is a larger ecosystem of programs within Austin that have been critical in creating a safer transportation system over the past decade. This includes construction of nearly 500 pedestrian crossings, 111 miles of All Ages and Abilities bicycle facilities, over 320 miles of new or upgraded sidewalks, over 600 Safe Routes to Schools projects and over 130 transit enhancements. At their core, these investments are safety projects serving to advance Vision Zero goals.
Managing for safe speeds remains a top priority. In 2020, Vision Zero reformed Austin’s Speed Management program to prioritize fatality and injury reduction alongside equity factors. The program has implemented traffic calming projects on 30 streets since 2020, with the majority in high-priority Equity Analysis Zones. Vision Zero also led efforts to lower speed limits on more than 850 miles of residential streets and on nearly 50 arterial streets.
As the graphic in the next section shows, the safety investments Austin is making are reducing deaths, injuries and societal costs from crashes.
Investing in Safety
Vision Zero data shows that where we invest in improving safety we are seeing fewer crashes, injuries and fatalities. This translates to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to the Austin community each year.
- 38% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- $78M annual reduction in crash costs
- 42% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- $22M annual reduction in crash costs
- 51% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- 75% reduction in Left Turn Across Path crashes
- $102M annual reduction in crash costs
- 9% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- $44M annual reduction in crash costs
- 86% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- 78% reduction in number of vehicles traveling 10+ mph over the speed limit
- $8M annual reduction in crash costs
- 27% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- 24% reduction in bicyclist-involved fatal and serious injury crashes
- $103M annual reduction in crash costs
- 27% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- $17M annual reduction in crash costs
- 15% reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes
- $59M annual reduction in crash costs
Promoting Safe Behaviors
While Vision Zero emphasizes built environment improvements, individual behaviors also play a significant role in severe crashes.
Over the past decade, Vision Zero has implemented various education and enforcement initiatives to support behavior change, using a data-driven, equity-focused approach to target the “Fatal Four” behaviors that most often contribute to crashes: impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving and failure to yield.
Impaired driving—including alcohol and drug use—killed over 12,000 people nationally in 2023. In Austin, Vision Zero found nearly 80% of drivers killed had alcohol above the legal limit or drugs in their system.
Excessive speed is a major roadway threat, with crash severity rising exponentially with speed. Nationally, speeding contributes to about one-third of traffic fatalities, though the true share is likely much higher due to underreporting.
Distracted driving killed over 3,000 people nationally in 2023, though the true toll is likely higher due to reporting challenges. Telematics data show it rose over 140% from 2020 to 2023, mirroring the nationwide surge in serious crashes during that period.
This includes ignoring the right of way at crosswalks, running red lights or stop signs and turning across oncoming traffic.
Education Initiatives
Vision Zero outreach aims to meet people where they are through traditional and digital means. In-person interaction is especially meaningful, and over the years Vision Zero has engaged with community members at public events and conducted street team outreach like our “Eyes Up, Phones Down” distracted driving campaign.
For broader reach, Vision Zero has regularly carried out multimedia marketing through radio and billboard advertising, organic and targeted social media posts, videos and email newsletters. Using crash data to identify at-risk populations, Vision Zero can target messaging towards certain groups at certain times of day—for example, young men in bar districts between 2–4 a.m.—to maximize effectiveness.
Enforcement Initiatives
Vision Zero partners with Austin Police Department to target behaviors causing the most serious injuries and deaths through the No Refusal Initiative (impaired driving) and Vision Zero in Action (speeding and distracted driving on high-risk corridors). These targeted approaches maximize limited public safety resources.
Vision Zero has developed comprehensive business intelligence tools that provide APD officers with access to severe crash trends and hotspot data for each sector across the city. These analytical resources help officers make data-informed decisions when allocating limited patrol resources for targeted enforcement activities.
Vision Zero now supports Travis County’s DWI Court and Transformative Youth Justice programs, funding alcohol monitoring for indigent participants and prioritizing rehabilitation over punishment to reduce repeat offenses.
The Next 10 Years of Vision Zero
As Austin marks a decade of Vision Zero, meaningful progress has been made, but the mission remains far from complete. Too many lives are still lost or forever changed on our roadways. The next 10 years demand new approaches, expanded proven strategies and broader regional partnerships to achieve zero traffic deaths and serious injuries.
Key Challenges
Funding: With over 300 square miles and 2,800 miles of streets, redesigning Austin’s entire transportation network requires continued funding. Current Bond funds will be substantially spent by 2026 and federal safety grant funding faces an uncertain future. Austin must continue to seek long-term funding through all avenues, including federal grants and regional and state partnerships.
State-Level Coordination: Although State roads account for 65–75% of Austin’s traffic fatalities, TxDOT should be commended for adopting their Road to Zero framework (i.e., 50% fatality reduction by 2035, zero by 2050). A major challenge that remains is the tension between state design standards that often prioritize vehicle flow over Safe System principles, which can hamper safety efforts. Furthermore, state laws banning automated enforcement and limiting speed-setting flexibility add challenges to improving safety across Texas.
Traffic Enforcement Capacity: Speeding citations have fallen 90% since 2015. New APD leadership offers hope for expanded patrol and renewed focus on targeted enforcement aligned with community safety and equity goals.
Homelessness and Traffic Safety: With 40–60% of pedestrian, bicyclist, and e-scooter deaths involving people experiencing homelessness, traditional safety interventions require expansion and new strategies must be explored to reduce risks for this especially vulnerable population.
Key Opportunities
Community Support: Perhaps most encouraging is the growing demand from Austin residents for safer, more walkable neighborhoods, evidenced by strong support for safety funding across several Bond elections. This support provides the foundation for bold safety improvements, securing funding for infrastructure changes and maintaining momentum toward Vision Zero goals.
Project Connect: High-capacity transit offers significant potential to reduce traffic fatalities by providing safer travel alternatives and reducing driving on higher-risk roads. Cities with robust transit consistently show lower fatality rates.
Emerging Technology: AI, remote sensing and data from connected vehicles and smart signals are improving risk detection and response. While full deployment will take time and mixed traffic poses challenges, autonomous vehicles offer long-term potential to reduce behavior-related crashes.
Photo by Brendan Maloney
Acknowledgments
While we still have a long way to go to achieve Austin’s ambitious goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries, it’s important to reflect on the progress made over the past decade toward safer streets. The data is clear: where we invest in safety we are seeing significantly fewer crashes, injuries and fatalities. This progress is the result of a shared commitment across our community—elected leaders who have championed safety, citizens who have supported bond elections to implement critical safety improvements, dedicated staff who bring these programs and projects to life, advocates who continually push us to do better and the families and individuals forever impacted by traffic violence. Your courage and advocacy remain the driving force behind our commitment to reach zero.
The Austin Vision Zero Team
