As traffic fatalities increase, so do fears about the future of Vision Zero

One tragic day in July has reignited the years-long roadway safety discussion in Philadelphia, leading to the question of whether the city’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2030 is working and what more needs to be done to make biking and walking safer. 

On July 17, Dr. Barbara Ann Friedes, a 30-year-old pediatric resident at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was killed while riding her bike in Center City Philadelphia after being struck by Michael Vahey, who was speeding under the influence. 

Vahey ran over several plastic dividers as he drove into the bike lane on Spruce Street so he could pass other cars before he killed Friedes. He has since been charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and speeding.

In response, hundreds of bicyclists rode from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to City Hall on July 26 to demand concrete barriers be put in place to protect bike lanes following the traffic deaths of several Philadelphians of all walks of life. 

The protest rides and calls for action have been consistent since the incident, with advocates delivering nearly 6,000 signatures and 4,000 comments to City Hall on Aug. 15 to call on Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Council to improve protected bike lanes and increase funding for Vision Zero.

On the same day that Friedes was killed, Christopher Cabrera was standing at the corner of Frankford and East Allegheny avenues in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Port Richmond when he was struck by a car driven by Christopher Sorensen, whom police also believe was under the influence. 

The tragic incidents – coming not long after the city budget showed a decrease in funding for its street safety program – have become just the latest flashpoints reigniting the conversation around Vision Zero and what the city must do to make its roadways safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike. 

Starting block

The city saw a drop in traffic deaths in the first half of 2024 after seeing an uptick in the years following the pandemic. 

According to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, which advocates for road safety for bikers and pedestrians, fatal crashes in the city through June 2024 resulted in 52 deaths – the lowest number the city has seen in that time period since 2019. 

At the same time, pedestrian deaths are rising relative to previous years. In 2024, pedestrians represented nearly half of all fatal crashes, compared to just 35% in 2019. And if the month of July was any indication, summertime could likely result in a spike in crashes given the number of children and people out in the city. 

The Kenney administration, which preceded Parker’s, budgeted $15 million for Vision Zero over six years, but in the past budget cycle, Parker’s administration supported a sharp drop in city spending on projects to better protect pedestrians, cyclists and roadways. 

While the Parker administration has disputed claims that Vision Zero funding has been reduced, the city budget allocates just $1 million for Vision Zero projects, down from $2.5 million last year under Kenney.

Parker, who signed an executive order on March 21 recommitting the city to Vision Zero, has pointed toward spending under other budget lines as part of the Vision Zero efforts. 

Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems has touted a $1.25 million expenditure for unspecified speed cushions and traffic-calming measures as an example of its efforts to make roadways safer. The city’s budget also allocates $3 million of state money for automated speed enforcement, and there is city matching money for federal infrastructure grants that can be used on special projects related to Vision Zero, OTIS said.

Amid the budget changes, some city councilmembers have taken a proactive approach to street safety, including Councilmember At-Large and Majority Whip Isaiah Thomas, who created a safe streets survey for residents that quickly garnered more than 1,000 responses about high-speed corridors and safety concerns. 

Street safety “is one of the biggest concerns I hear from my office,” Thomas told City & State. “There are a lot of things, from a structural perspective, that don’t make sense and that often put our children in danger when they’re looking to do normal activities children should be able to do safely.”

Thomas said the corridors most often cited in the responses were Hunting Park Avenue in North Philadelphia and Cobbs Creek Parkway and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia. However, state law makes it difficult for the city to install bike lanes on state routes maintained by PennDOT. 

Thomas, who said he was disappointed but optimistic about the interest and funding for street safety, said that the most immediate action that could be taken is to protect bike lanes and improve intersection visibility. 

“We’re optimistic because we feel like the appetite is there. While (Vision Zero) wasn’t funded at the level that we felt like it should have been in this budget, it wasn’t something that was completely dismissed,” Thomas said. “Intersection visibility is a big issue … capital investment in those high-speed corridors that puts us in a position to make sure cars can see a little clearer is a big thing.”

Pedestrian politics

Chris Gale, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, said the conversation around street safety has become siloed and often pits bicyclists against drivers and pedestrians – which doesn’t have to be the case. 

“What are the different modes of transportation that Philadelphians use to get throughout the city – and how do we make sure that every person, regardless of how they choose to travel the city, is safe?” Gale asked rhetorically during an interview with City & State. “It’s unfortunate that (these accidents) have pushed the needs of the community back into the forefront, (but) it’s clear that people care deeply about safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians.”

Gale noted the transportation conversation can make it seem like roadway safety and congestion remediation are at odds and that that is how many city officials view the issue. 

“There needs to be a much more robust number dedicated to Vision Zero and not just to repaving, but to redesigning our 200-plus-year-old roads for modern vehicles, cyclists and pedestrian traffic … (and) transit riders,” Gale added.

“Our elected officials are interested in both (creating) safer roads and easing congestion,” although they see them as competing goals, Gale said. “Congestion, funny enough, is a good thing because it forces people to slow down and not drive so fast. The goal shouldn’t actually be to ease congestion; it should be to figure out how to ensure people are traveling at an appropriate speed wherever they’re going.”

Advocates say the city can readily implement traffic-calming initiatives, including protected bike lanes, road diets – which remove vehicle travel lanes to create space for pedestrians and cyclists – and corner daylighting, which allows clearer sight lines at intersections. 

Jon Geeting, director of engagement for Philadelphia 3.0, a nonprofit political advocacy organization, told City & State that in New Jersey, cities like Hoboken and Jersey City – which haven’t had a traffic-related death in years – have proven the effectiveness of corner daylighting. 

Hoboken has been elevated as a national model for roadway safety since it began focusing on daylighting: Since January 2017, the city of nearly 60,000 people has not had a single automobile occupant, bicyclist or pedestrian die in a traffic crash. 

Geeting said one of the main issues with Vision Zero is that funding has to go through City Council, whereas implementing corner daylighting projects could be done through the administration and by enforcing the parking laws on the books. 

State law prohibits parking within 30 feet of a stop sign, yield sign, flashing signal, or traffic control device located at the side of the road, but in Philadelphia, parking is often hard to come by – and parking enforcement can be even tougher to find. 

Thomas agreed that the parking issues come down to enforcement by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which has boosted its towing and ticketing efforts under the leadership of Executive Director Rich Lazer. 

“PPA has ramped up some of the enforcement as it relates to parked and abandoned vehicles blocking things that handicapped people and pedestrians are trying to use,” Thomas said. “Those are some things we can do to immediately address safety concerns.”

Thomas and Geeting each said that daylighting isn’t new to the city, either, but it could be implemented on a broader scale. In South Philadelphia in 2021, the South of South Neighborhood Association spearheaded an effort to paint vibrant patterns along corners, rather than the standard red or yellow, to make streets near neighborhood schools safer.

At the time, it was seen as a low-cost, low-tech, traffic-calming project. Now, similar ideas are being tossed around as to how the city can make its roads safer for everyone. 

Dr. Alison Culyba, a member of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, with a special interest in injury prevention, told City & State that whatever safety measures are put in place, they must take into account the visibility and safety of children – particularly as they are set to resume school in the coming days. 

“Despite the fact that over the last 30 years or so that overall pedestrian deaths have actually decreased across the U.S., there are a couple of age groups that have actually experienced some increases,” Dr. Culyba said. “The rate of child pedestrian deaths has actually increased by 11% since 2013.”

With children and smaller individuals in mind, any protected bike lane barriers and daylighting structures should also ensure that both pedestrians and drivers can see who or what could be coming. 

“Anytime a young child is struck by a vehicle, there’s a chance for very severe injuries to occur and for that to be a quite traumatizing experience, not only for them, but for their entire family and community,” she added. “It’s important to have input from pediatricians to make sure that the pieces that are going to be put in place are really designed to protect both children and adults, and those of varying abilities as well.”

Gale said the motivations and end goals for roadway safety should be the same for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. 

“At the end of the day, I think that we want the same thing that the mayor wants. I think we just want to get there in a different way than how I think she may want to get there, or she sees us getting there,” Gale said. “It’s really important for us to get together and figure out how to do this in a way that is comprehensive, thoughtful and fills the needs of all Philadelphians.”