Over 500 people attended Auckland Conversations on 15 November to hear Dr Matts-Åke Belin talk about the Vision Zero approach to road safety.
The Vision Zero approach to road safety
World renowned road safety strategist Matts-Åke Belin advises the Mayor of New York, the UN and the US government on Vision Zero.
He was joined by Auckland Transport's Andrew Allen, Brake's Caroline Perry and The University of Auckland's Dr Rhys Jones for a panel discussion on the issues facing Auckland, and how we can improve our worsening statistics on fatalities and serious injuries.
Mayor Phil Goff opened the event, emphasising the great cost of our road environment and the need to do better. Along with growth and congestion, Auckland is facing a growing road safety challenge, with road deaths and serious injuries climbing significantly faster than population growth.
Vision Zero is an approach to road safety that can be summarised in one sentence: no loss of life on the roads is acceptable. It began in Sweden and has grown into a global movement.
Dr Belin described the situation that Sweden was in 20 years ago, when it decided to take a new approach to road safety to bring down the number of deaths on the road and make it safer for all users.
He says Auckland, like Sweden 20 years ago, has lots of opportunity to make improvements by changing the road environment.
Well-known Vision Zero cities include New York, London, Toronto, Seattle and Portland.
If you missed the event, you can now watch it online at Auckland Conversations.
Check out the interview with Dr Matts-Åke Belin at Paperboy or look for more information at Vision Zero.
