‘A lot of it has to do with congestion, with roadway design and a lot of variables that may or may not be within our grasp currently,’ Sobczyk says
‘A lot of it has to do with congestion, with roadway design and a lot of variables that may or may not be within our grasp currently,’ Sobczyk says
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‘A lot of it has to do with congestion, with roadway design and a lot of variables that may or may not be within our grasp currently,’ Sobczyk says
It’s a bold effort to have no traffic deaths in Omaha. This year alone, 32 people have lost their lives in crashes.
“We can’t accept fatalities as just the norm of being able to go from point A to point B,” Vision Zero coordinator Jeff Sobczyk said.
Zero fatalities is Sobczyk’s goal, though he knows, it’s no easy task.
“Where are these failures? Is the city underperforming and creating an environment that might be hostile toward vulnerable users,” he said. “Where are we encouraging speed by our existing traffic way design?”
The city has an online dashboard that tracks deadly crashes. The blue dots show those scenes this year and several are on main roads like Dodge Street.
“A lot of it has to do with congestion, with roadway design and a lot of variables that may or may not be within our grasp currently,” he said.
Since taking over Vision Zero in late 2020, Sobczyk said he quickly realized this needs to be a team effort.
“I think it became pretty clear to myself, my peers and my supervisors that in order to do this right and to be honest with ourselves we’re going to have to spend and put some more money into this,” Sobczyk said.
Right now, he said there’s no funding specifically for Vision Zero. He hopes his action plan will change that and lead to a team effort like the task force that no longer exists.
“We have an idea of this network. We need to prioritize,” he said. “That’s going to be where we’re going to be focusing most of our efforts.”
Sobczyk will present his action plan to the city early next month.
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