The Mayor Who Ended Traffic Deaths

It’s no secret that America’s streets are dangerous: roughly 40,000 people die on our roads every year. In response, over the past couple of decades, 60 cities have embraced VisionZero — a framework for road safety developed in Sweden — to make roads safer by slowing down cars and expanding curbs and other infrastructure that makes pedestrians and cyclists more visible. Although VisionZero has a mixed record in America, the tiny, dense city of Hoboken, New Jersey has emerged as proof that VisionZero can save lives and cut down on injuries.  Much of that success can be attributed to the work of Ravi Bhalla, who served as mayor from 2018 until earlier this year. Bhalla added bumpouts to intersections, crosswalks and slowed speed limits across the city. As a result, Hoboken hasn’t seen a single road death since 2017 and drastically cut serious injuries.  In this episode, Bhalla explains how a lack of safety was hurting Hoboken, the resistance he confronted in his pursuit of new policies, and their cascading impacts on the community. Listen to ModeShift on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.