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Vision Zero: Working to Eliminate Traffic Deaths & Serious Injuries · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

0:03
Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
0:05
public health podcast, where we come together
0:07
for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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real conversations. From your local public health
0:11
team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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is your weekly Minnesota where we'll provide
0:16
a brief update on local public health news. Today,
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we're joined by Emily Francis, Mayor of the City
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of Fort Collins, and Drew Brooks, Deputy Director
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of Planning, Development, and Transportation
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Services for Fort Collins. Thank you both for
0:30
joining us. Of course. Thanks for having us.
0:32
Thank you so much. So in early March, Fort Collins
0:35
City Council adopted five major priorities for
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its 2026 to 2028 term. Can you give us a brief
0:42
overview of those five priorities? Sure. So every
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two years after an election, city council gets
0:48
together and sets two -year priorities. This
0:52
year, we have five priorities, which is great
0:54
and focused instead of previously we've had anywhere
0:57
from 32 to 99 priorities. So I think we're making
1:01
great progress on how to really focus. I think
1:06
the main priority that came out was really focused
1:08
on affordability. We have really heard from residents
1:11
that affordability is probably the top issue
1:14
that they are concerned about. And so council
1:17
has a priority around promoting affordable and
1:19
sustainable growth by making development more
1:22
predictable, efficient, and cost effective. And
1:25
this is looking at housing and also opening a
1:28
business. What's the city's role in housing affordability?
1:31
And what's the city's role in... the ability
1:34
for anyone to open a business in Fort Collins.
1:37
And then on the other side of that affordability,
1:39
we're really looking at how do we increase the
1:43
number of livable wage jobs that are in Fort
1:46
Collins. And so this priority is called bolster
1:50
economic vitality with a focus on neighborhood
1:52
centers and quality job creation. And so we're
1:55
really looking at how do we have employers that
1:59
are paying livable wages, and how are we revitalizing
2:01
neighborhood centers? I think of neighborhood
2:04
centers as more of like the corner locations
2:06
near your home. For me, that's Taft and Elizabeth.
2:10
It has a grocery store. It may have some other
2:12
few amenities, but may not have been updated
2:14
for a very long time or may not seem kind of
2:17
the activity that we want to see. And so really
2:20
focusing on what is the city's role in revitalizing
2:23
those neighborhood centers. As some people may
2:25
know, we at the city, like many local governments
2:28
and the state, are facing some budget issues.
2:31
And so council really wants to make sure that
2:34
as a city. organization, we're ensuring long
2:37
-term financial sustainability. So really looking
2:40
at things like levels of service, what programming
2:43
we're offering, and how are we going to maintain
2:47
that as we continue to grow and as we're offering
2:50
services for residents. Then we have one connect
2:53
community to council actions. This one's harder
2:56
to explain, but you know residents really want
2:59
to understand how Does someone go through a policy
3:02
and make a decision at the end instead of just
3:04
knowing kind of what happened at the end? So
3:07
really trying to connect more with residents
3:09
on what is the process as a decision maker, as
3:12
somebody who serves on council or as mayor that
3:15
goes into, you know, how we get to. adopting
3:20
something. Because by the time it goes to council,
3:22
it's usually been through multiple work sessions,
3:25
it's had many discussions, but residents usually
3:28
just see it going straight to council. And so
3:30
shedding some more light on how decisions are
3:32
made. And then the last one, which we're here
3:34
to talk about today, is accelerate progress towards
3:36
Vision Zero. Vision Zero is trying to get to
3:39
zero serious injuries or fatalities. So What
3:44
does the current data tell us about transportation
3:46
-related deaths and injuries in Fort Collins?
3:49
From 2021 through 2025, 40 families lost loved
3:53
ones in traffic crashes, and 358 people experienced
3:58
life -changing injuries in traffic crashes. So
4:01
it's not a small number, and we want that number
4:05
to be decreasing. Well, most of our severe crashes
4:08
are on arterial roads, so those are at higher
4:11
speeds. They're almost always at intersections
4:15
and involve someone turning left or right. So
4:18
those left and right turning movements are typically
4:20
where those very severe crashes happen. People
4:23
riding motorcycles or bicycles and people walking
4:26
are especially vulnerable. In the last few years,
4:29
we've actually had a very high number of motorcycle
4:32
fatalities. Only about 7 % of all crashes involve
4:37
a vulnerable road user. So someone who is not
4:40
in a vehicle. But those are 50 % of severe crashes.
4:44
And how is all of that data collected? It's a
4:46
variety of means. Usually it comes from on -the
4:50
-ground police reporting. Whenever there is a
4:52
severe crash, there is a team that goes out.
4:56
And that's why in those severe crashes, you'll
4:58
often see... an intersection closed down for
5:01
a significant amount of time because they do
5:03
a very thorough investigation and report on all
5:07
of those different factors. And then our traffic
5:10
team takes all of that data from their systems,
5:12
analyzes it, and puts it into a variety of different
5:17
systems. What do the trends in that data look
5:20
like over time? Are we getting closer to reaching
5:23
the goal of zero deaths and injuries by 2032?
5:26
So the good news is that we have had fewer deaths
5:29
in traffic crashes for the past two years. We've
5:32
had a 54 % reduction in 2025 compared to 2023.
5:38
So far in 2026, we have had no deaths. We've
5:42
had about 20 % fewer serious injuries in traffic
5:45
crashes in 2025 compared to 2024. And there are,
5:49
of course, regional factors that we can't always
5:51
control, but we have to get ahead of. outside
5:57
of Fort Collins that are coming into Fort Collins.
6:01
So there's just a lot of regional issues that
6:05
kind of come with this type of, as we increase
6:07
our traffic, especially if you think about kind
6:11
of like that Harmony corridor where we have a
6:13
significant amount of traffic coming in and out
6:16
of each day. How does Vision Zero go about preventing
6:20
traffic deaths and injuries? What sorts of tools
6:23
or interventions do you use? Yeah, well, we're
6:25
trying to look at it from what we would refer
6:28
to as like a kind of a systems approach on how
6:30
we design intersections and retrofit intersections.
6:34
So if you think about like what's going on on
6:36
College and Trail Beat right now, that was one
6:39
of our worst intersections. Right now, it's probably
6:43
not one of our worst because most people can't
6:45
get through it because of the construction that
6:47
we're doing there. But we're improving turning
6:50
movements and turn lanes and all the different.
6:53
access of that particular intersection, creating
6:56
all of the signals so they have the most current
6:57
technology so they can control traffic better
7:00
and allow for different turning movements. Also,
7:03
obviously, our police department is using red
7:06
light cameras and speed cameras to kind of see
7:08
if we can slow traffic down. And then, of course,
7:11
longer -term solutions are around creating a
7:13
culture of traffic safety in our community, which
7:16
is probably the harder thing to do, talking about
7:19
kind of cultural behavioral change. Making sure
7:22
that people know that it's just not okay to run
7:25
a traffic light or to speed. Of course, kind
7:29
of having people trained to habitually watch
7:31
out for people walking and biking those vulnerable
7:34
road users. I think, Drew, I'll also add that,
7:36
you know, City Council, when we were talking
7:39
about Vision Zero, we're really talking about
7:42
the built environment of the roads in Fort Collins
7:45
and the grid -like structure and the wide lanes
7:47
really encourage your speeding. And we know that.
7:51
That leads to serious injuries and fatalities.
7:54
So really looking at how do we better design
7:57
streets to naturally slow down speeds? And then
8:00
also how do we better align speed limits with
8:05
different areas in town? So some areas probably
8:07
have too high of speed limits. There have been
8:09
residents who really want us to lower speed limits
8:11
in neighborhoods. And we've seen other communities
8:14
do that. And so the red lights is like a great
8:17
example of. You know, you have to be going 11
8:21
over to get a ticket. And so that's quite a bit
8:24
over the speed limit. And I know that some residents
8:26
are upset that we have red light tickets, but
8:29
that's going quite a bit over the speed limit.
8:31
And so we think we felt is pretty fair and it
8:34
has reduced speeding in our town. So, you know,
8:38
these are some of the things we're looking at.
8:40
But then also, how do we just make it more difficult
8:43
to speed so we can naturally calm traffic? A
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lot of our roadways in Fort Collins are quite
8:49
wide. And for a driver, person in a vehicle,
8:53
the speed feels like it should be faster, right?
8:58
And so what we will need to do in some of these
9:01
corridors is actually narrow those lanes and
9:04
add sort of what we refer to as like visual friction,
9:07
right? So when you have more of that visual friction,
9:09
it feels like you need to drive slower because
9:12
even with speed limits in place. Often people
9:14
speed over the speed limit because they feel
9:16
comfortable driving at a certain speed. And so
9:19
we have to kind of change the landscape of literally
9:21
the landscape of those roadways so that they
9:24
feel and appear like you need to slow down. Are
9:27
there other places either here in the U .S. or
9:30
throughout the world that are doing this really
9:32
well that we look to for ideas? There are some
9:35
cities that are doing really well. Kind of the
9:38
poster child in the United States is Hoboken,
9:40
New Jersey. They have... at zero fatalities for
9:44
several years. Now, let's bear in mind, too,
9:46
that Hoboken is like two square miles. It's a
9:49
very small city geographically. For reference,
9:53
Fort Collins is 57 square miles. And Hoboken
9:58
is also, I think, about 60 ,000 population. Now,
10:01
where you can point to great success there is
10:03
that 55 % of Hobokens, they commute on public
10:08
transit. So that is one of the biggest factors.
10:13
get mode shift. If we can get folks out of vehicles
10:15
and into a safer mode of transportation, you're
10:18
going to see great success there. There are some
10:21
other areas like I think Carmel, Indiana is actually
10:25
one that's doing really, really well. And of
10:27
course, internationally, there are many cities
10:29
that have done pretty well there. We do regular
10:32
tours with Boulder back and forth because we
10:36
kind of view them as doing pretty good in the
10:38
space and we kind of go back and forth and look
10:40
at what they're doing and they look at what we're
10:41
doing. And we're also members of NACTO, which
10:45
is the National Association of City Transportation
10:48
Officials. In fact, their conference is coming
10:50
up here in May. And we'll have probably a dozen
10:53
of our staff that go to that because it's one
10:56
of the premier U .S. organizations that's doing
10:59
work in this space. Part of Vision Zero focuses
11:02
on the high injury network, which is made up
11:05
of just 8 % of roads in Fort Collins that account
11:08
for 63 % of serious crashes. Can you tell us
11:12
a little bit more about those areas and what
11:15
contributes to that disproportionate percentage
11:17
of incidents? The high injury network is mostly
11:21
those arterial roads we were talking about earlier
11:23
that have easier to speed. They're wider roads.
11:27
They have higher speed limits. They're usually
11:29
near other amenities like retail, convenience
11:32
stores, entertainment, those types of things.
11:34
So they have more interaction between vulnerable
11:37
road users and cars. And so that's why we see
11:41
a higher level of interactions there. And then
11:43
also, you know, when I was talking earlier about
11:46
speed and if the speed limits were appropriate,
11:49
because if you're hit by a car that's going 20
11:52
miles per hour, nine times out of 10, you're
11:55
able to walk away from that accident. But if
11:57
you're hit by someone traveling 40 miles per
11:59
hour, that's really where we see those serious
12:01
injuries and even death occur. And so. You know,
12:05
that's why we're really trying to look at these
12:07
road diets of like shrinking the road, lowering
12:09
speed limits, especially around areas where we
12:12
have a high concentration of pedestrians, bicyclists
12:16
and cars. The high injury network is a really
12:20
interesting way to kind of look at this because
12:22
it really has focused our attention to where
12:25
those crashes are that are the most severe. And
12:30
so that is kind of one of the ways that we have
12:32
kind of focused in our work. really change the
12:34
way that we're taking a system -wide approach
12:37
to this. So it sounds like it's a combination
12:39
of both trying to reduce the number of incidents
12:42
overall and also when incidents do happen, trying
12:45
to make them less severe. So the Neighborhood
12:49
Traffic Mitigation Program is this collaborative
12:52
process where neighbors can kind of petition
12:55
to have something in their neighborhood when
12:58
they feel like there's kind of speeding maybe
13:01
out of control in their neighborhood. And they'll
13:04
reach out to us. We'll do traffic studies and
13:07
determine, you know, where the problems might
13:10
lie. We'll often do, if you've seen those little
13:13
trailers that have like the speed cameras on
13:15
them that kind of let you know what your speed
13:17
is going, we'll start there and put those in
13:20
place so that we can kind of alert residents
13:23
to just how fast they're going in their neighborhood.
13:25
It's often interesting when people find out just
13:28
which neighbors are the ones doing the speeding.
13:31
And so what we try to do is kind of inform everyone
13:35
first and do a little work there. But if that
13:38
doesn't work, then the neighbors can actually
13:41
start a petition to get other types of measures
13:44
put in place, such as speed bumps, raised crosswalks,
13:48
curb extensions, which will kind of slow things
13:51
down in those areas. And so it's a small program,
13:55
but a mighty program that seems to be very, very
13:58
popular with many of our neighborhoods. Now,
14:00
in our neighborhoods is not typically where we
14:02
see those severe crashes because the speed limits
14:07
are typically lower and people tend to not speed
14:09
in our neighborhoods. But if there's cut through
14:12
traffic or something like from, say, a detour,
14:16
that's something that we'd like to try and monitor
14:19
through this program. I'll say that speed bumps
14:21
are a contentious issue within neighborhoods
14:23
of residents being very divided over speed bumps
14:27
and who does not. Yeah, speed bumps can be very
14:31
divisive, and they're also a little difficult
14:35
to maintain, especially in times when we have
14:39
a lot of snowfall, which we didn't this last
14:41
year. But when you do have a lot of snowfall,
14:43
they're very difficult to maintain because the
14:45
snowplows kind of air them up pretty readily.
14:48
So they aren't our first choice for trying to
14:52
figure out how to control these problems, but
14:54
they can be effective. How does equity show up
14:57
in Vision Zero and transportation planning more
15:00
broadly? So there's major goal areas, and one
15:03
of those goal areas is focused on equity. And
15:06
part of the way that we incorporate this is through
15:09
the city's health equity index. And so prioritizing
15:13
which projects we're submitting for state and
15:15
federal funding or with our own city budget.
15:18
And we're using that health equity index to kind
15:22
of weigh the development of those high injury
15:24
networks and really focus on those areas that
15:27
we know need more support. Particularly, you
15:31
know, when you look at like the northwest part
15:33
of the city, those areas of the city tend to
15:36
have older infrastructure, things like smaller
15:38
sidewalks, less of the new technology with lights
15:42
and speed bumps and radar. And so really looking
15:45
at how do we make sure that we're deploying this
15:49
equitably and really focusing on where are we
15:52
seeing those high rates of accidents, but also
15:54
how are we addressing this as, you know, we build
15:57
out more and are those differences between the
16:00
older neighborhoods and newer neighborhoods.
16:02
And then when we do community engagement within
16:05
Vision Zero, you know, we really try to engage
16:08
with residents that may have less safe access
16:13
to transportation, things like mobile home parks
16:16
or affordable housing complexes, kids who attend
16:20
Title I schools. So we're really trying to bring
16:23
in perspective of different residents and how
16:26
they interact with the system. We have a study
16:28
right now, which is our Sacred Streets Northwest
16:30
study, which is looking at kind of all of those
16:34
neighborhoods in the Northwest. We're also doing
16:36
a North College study. which is looking at all
16:39
of the areas around College Avenue north of Dying
16:42
Drive. And so those are areas where we know that
16:44
we have a propensity of transit users, vulnerable
16:49
road users, people who are walking and biking
16:51
more out of necessity, more than just choice.
16:55
And so we know that those are areas where we
16:58
need to kind of focus our efforts because we'll
17:00
see a higher propensity of folks who are in that
17:03
kind of vulnerable road user category. That's
17:06
where the health department is. That makes a
17:08
lot of sense. How does Fort Collins work with
17:11
other government agencies to address transportation
17:13
safety, especially where city infrastructure
17:17
interacts with infrastructure that might be managed
17:20
by a different agency? I'm thinking of like I
17:22
-25, for example. We're lucky to have good staff
17:25
that are dedicated to managing this. You know,
17:28
some of the organizations that... We're part
17:30
of is the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning
17:32
Organization, which is the NFRMPO. They really
17:37
look at that regional perspective. And then we
17:40
also, of course, work with the Colorado Department
17:41
of Transportation or CDOT. So we have monthly
17:47
and quarterly meetings with CDOT on a variety
17:50
of projects. One of those is the Mulberry interchange.
17:53
That end of Mulberry is... not in the city limits,
17:56
but it is something that we're working with CDOT
17:58
very, very closely because that is a location
18:01
where there have been quite a few pedestrian
18:04
fatalities over the years. Working on improving
18:07
that intersection is a joint effort between the
18:09
state, the city of Fort Collins, and the county
18:11
as well. And then, of course, as you can imagine,
18:14
College Avenue 287 is a state highway that runs
18:17
right through the middle of Fort Collins, and
18:19
so we have to work with them regularly on all
18:21
of these projects. They are very... dedicated
18:24
as well, CDOT, is to do Vision Zero. So we're
18:27
always looking for ways that we can kind of coordinate
18:29
on these type of projects and make sure that
18:32
we're providing a really good, safe road experience,
18:36
no matter who owns the road. You talked about
18:39
this a little bit before, but could you expand
18:42
on how multimodal transportation, things like
18:45
walking, biking, public transportation, play
18:48
into the Vision Zero strategy? Those multimodal
18:51
options play a huge role because the less cars
18:54
you have, you're really reducing the incidence
18:56
of fatalities and serious injuries. And so it's
18:59
part, how do we make roads safer for motor vehicles?
19:04
Nearly all severe traffic accidents involve a
19:07
motor vehicle. And so we're really trying to
19:10
reduce the dependency on motor vehicles and making
19:13
driving kind of the less convenient choice and
19:16
really trying to promote the walking and biking,
19:19
public transportation, as we know that these
19:21
involve, you know, if there is an incident, much
19:24
less likely chance of it being severe or a fatality.
19:27
I'm a real... transit nerd. And I love that space.
19:32
And it's the safest mode of transportation on
19:35
the road is transit. And so buses and trains
19:39
obviously are the way to go. So the more folks
19:42
that we can get into those modes of transportation,
19:44
we just absolutely know that we're going to,
19:47
you know, reduce those interactions that could
19:50
be unsafe. Mode shift is one of the primary goals.
19:55
Proactive community engagement is also listed
19:59
as one of the guiding principles of Vision Zero.
20:01
What does that community engagement look like
20:04
and how can residents get involved? From Council's
20:07
perspective, that community engagement really
20:09
shapes and helps us focus on where to prioritize
20:13
and where are our highest incidence rates. And
20:16
as you talked about earlier with the neighborhood
20:18
program of how residents can get like a speed
20:21
bump put in their neighborhood, it's all based
20:23
on community feedback. And so, you know, since
20:27
we are all in this together, we all have to work
20:30
together to make Vision Zero a reality. That's
20:33
where the engagement part really comes in and
20:35
really plays a big role. So it's not only, you
20:39
know, Residents telling us where they have issues,
20:43
but it's also being a more aware driver, learning
20:46
how to be a more aware biker or pedestrian. And
20:49
so it takes all of us to get to Vision Zero.
20:52
And, you know, it's avoiding those distractions
20:55
and not picking up your phone when you're driving
20:57
or, you know, making a full stop at a stop sign,
20:59
not speeding. Three years ago when I took over
21:03
the role that I'm in now, the traffic departments
21:06
and FC Moves came under my purview. I was absolutely
21:11
stunned by the amount of engagement that we receive
21:15
from our neighbors and community members on traffic
21:19
issues and speeding issues. It might be argued
21:23
that our traffic department might receive the
21:26
most number of engagement from the community
21:30
because it's a very, very engaged population
21:34
on this issue. Speeding is something that, and
21:37
traffic safety is very, very top of mind. We
21:40
have a very, very engaged community that wants
21:42
to be able to bike and walk safely and participate
21:47
in all of those modes. And so we don't have to
21:51
reach out to them quite as much as we would in
21:53
some situations because they are letting us know.
21:56
And we document all of those interactions. Some
22:00
of those folks will contact us multiple times
22:05
a year about a particular issue and check in
22:06
to kind of see where we're going with that. Unfortunately,
22:10
I think that that is a change that we're going
22:12
to have to make to be less reactive and more
22:15
proactive in this space. And that has to do with
22:18
a little bit of resourcing in certain departments.
22:20
And so we're working right now to kind of do
22:23
some re -leveling and do some different things
22:24
within our traffic and our FC move space so that
22:29
we can do more engagement in this space, do more
22:32
proactive work in neighborhoods so that we aren't
22:34
waiting to kind of hear. We have to wait. But
22:37
you know what I'm saying is like we don't want
22:39
to wait for that to come to us. We should be
22:42
out there being more proactive in that area.
22:44
So there's a lot of engagement that goes on on
22:48
a daily basis. We're literally going out on the
22:51
street doing those traffic counts and engaging
22:52
with our community members to talk through these
22:56
issues kind of on the street. And then also there's,
23:00
you may have seen those bumper stickers around
23:01
downtown for the Slow the Foco Down, right? That's
23:05
an engagement campaign that the police department
23:09
initiated that is just trying to bring a little
23:13
bit of levity and focus to this issue. And we
23:17
probably need even more of that type of work
23:20
so that we can get people engaged proactively,
23:23
having discussions about it, and kind of just
23:26
putting it in front of everyone's face every
23:27
day so that we're all paying attention and aware
23:29
of this particular problem. Is there anything
23:32
that you wish more people knew about transportation
23:36
safety? Well, I would say that, you know, it's
23:39
like that old joke when people say they complain
23:42
about traffic, that you are traffic, right? It's
23:45
kind of the same thing, right? You are the problem,
23:48
right? If you were speeding, if you're running
23:49
red lights, if you're not paying attention, if
23:52
you're not looking at some alternatives, alternative
23:55
modes of transportation. And obviously we know
23:57
that not everyone can use an alternative mode.
24:01
But, you know, we're not always necessarily telling
24:03
you that you have to get up the car, but maybe
24:05
try to do some different things every day because
24:08
we all kind of contribute to this problem. And
24:11
so if we can kind of figure out ways to all be
24:14
a little more aware, pay attention to those things,
24:16
I would love for people to know that more, that
24:18
they do have a voice, they do have an action
24:21
that they can take, that it's not just about,
24:24
you know, a bunch of engineers trying to figure
24:27
out the problem. Yeah, I think I would just add
24:29
that. You know, if you're driving a car, it can
24:33
wait. Whatever you think you need to attend to,
24:36
it can wait. As we see serious injuries and fatalities
24:41
at the levels they are in Fort Collins, it is
24:43
quite concerning. And we really do want people
24:47
to pay attention to the road, not be distracted,
24:49
follow the traffic laws. Don't speed. And so,
24:52
you know, if you really do need to take care
24:54
of something, pull over. Because I don't think
24:57
anyone leaves their house, gets in their car
24:59
and thinks they're going to be the one who causes
25:00
a serious injury and fatality. But if you're
25:03
distracted and or you're speeding, you know,
25:06
that greatly increases the chances. So I just
25:09
always say it can wait. And then if people would
25:12
like to learn more about Vision Zero, where should
25:14
they go? So if you just go to FortCollins .gov
25:17
and you type in traffic safety. It's going to
25:20
take you directly to all of the information you
25:23
want to know about Vision Zero, everything about
25:25
our traffic safety programs, the neighborhood
25:27
mitigation program, all of those things that
25:30
we've talked about today and have housed in that
25:32
one safety web page. Well, thank you both so
25:36
much. I hope you have a great rest of your day.
25:39
Thanks. Thank you so much. Do you have a question
25:45
about public health in Larimer County or a topic
25:47
you'd like us to discuss? Let us know. Email
25:50
us at HealthierTogether at Larimer .org. Thanks
25:54
for listening, Larimer County. Until next week,
25:56
stay well, stay connected, and remember, we really
25:58
are healthier together.