INDIANAPOLIS — UPDATE: On July 18 the Public Works committee of the City-County Council approved the Vision Zero proposal and sent it on for a vote of the full City-County Council.
Indianapolis City-Council councilors introduced a proposal Monday that sets a goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2035, while increasing "safe, healthy and equitable mobility" for residents.
According to the proposal, this initiative will go along with existing policies like the Complete Street Policy, aiming for an integrated, multimodal transportation system.
"This proposal is all about saving lives and ensuring that Indianapolis is a city where people can walk, bike, and drive without fear," Councilor John Barth (D-7) said. "We need to prioritize the safety of our most vulnerable road users—pedestrians and cyclists—and this proposal is a crucial move to that direction."
The "Vision Zero" proposal will establish a 15-member task force. It will cover appointments from both the council president and the mayor to oversee the action plan.
Officials said the task force will serve as a "collaborative effort" between the City-County Council, the City of Indianapolis, other local government agencies, community organizations and residents.
The task force will host public meetings, gather community input and provide updates to the council.
“Now is the time to act. We also need to add that this is a solvable problem. This isn’t something that is just a lofty goal. This can be achieved. It’s just going to take implementation and action,” said Councilor Andy Nielson.
According to data from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, pedestrian fatalities in the city increased by 25% from 2020 to 2023. There were also more than 300 reported incidents involving cyclists in the past three years, many resulting in serious injuries.
The core principal of Vision Zero is that no loss of life is acceptable in traffic incidents.
Other cities that have adopted the Vision Zero strategy include Columbus, Ohio; Hoboken, New Jersey; and Denver, Colorado.
The proposal will now be sent to the Public Works Committee for public comment and a vote on July 18. If approved, it will be sent back to the full council for a final vote.
Statement from Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis
“Tonight, the Indianapolis City-County Council took a major step toward safer roads for all users with the introduction of Proposal 224 to create a Vision Zero Task Force and Action Plan.
While this proposal does start to move us in the right direction, we know it will be quite some time before it has any impact on the safety of our streets. Because of this, we must continue to look toward short-term solutions while longer-term initiatives get off the ground.
As we enter budget season, we call on the Council and Administration to include funding for rapid-response traffic calming projects such as ones successfully implemented in Cincinnati and Milwaukee. These projects are proven to save lives and can be implemented quickly without the budget larger projects require.
The longer we wait to act, the more people we will see seriously injured and/or killed while walking and biking in our city. The data does not lie: this crisis is continuing to worsen and we could be on track to see a record number of pedestrian/bicyclist fatalities this year.
Our thanks go to all the Councilors who worked on this proposal and we look forward to its passage in the coming weeks.”