The Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Zero Death Initiative is a bold and visionary goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Colorado’s roadways. The initiative was launched in 2015 and is based on the Safe System approach to road safety, which recognizes that people make mistakes and that the road system should be designed to protect everyone, even when those mistakes happen.
The Zero Death Initiative focuses on four key areas:
- Engineering: Making Colorado’s roads safer for everyone by designing and building safer roads, intersections, and crosswalks.
- Education: Educating drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists about road safety and how to prevent crashes.
- Enforcement: Enforcing traffic laws to keep drivers safe and accountable.
- Emergency response: Improving the response to crashes to minimize injuries and fatalities
CDOT is working with a variety of partners to implement the Zero Death Initiative, including law enforcement, local governments, and community organizations. The initiative has made significant progress in reducing traffic fatalities in Colorado. In 2021, Colorado had its lowest number of traffic fatalities since 1948.
Here are some examples of specific initiatives that CDOT is implementing as part of the Zero Death Initiative:
- Installing roundabouts at intersections, which have been shown to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
- Building protected bike lanes and sidewalks to make it safer for people to walk and bike.
- Implementing speed management strategies, such as lowering speed limits in high-crash areas.
- Educating drivers about the dangers of distracted driving and impaired driving.
- Enforcing traffic laws, such as speeding and DUI laws.
Improving the response to crashes by training first responders on how to best care for crash victims.
The Zero Death Initiative is a long-term commitment to making Colorado’s roads safer for everyone. CDOT is working with its partners to implement the initiative and to achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries.
The following Colorado cities have joined the Zero Death Initiative:
- Fort Collins (2016)
- Longmont (2017)
- Boulder (2018)
- Arvada (2019)
- Centennial (2019)
These cities have joined the initiative by committing to working with CDOT and other partners to implement the four key areas of the initiative: engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency response.
In addition to these cities, a number of other Colorado communities have joined the Zero Death Initiative as partners. These partners include law enforcement agencies, local governments, and community organizations.
The Zero Death Initiative is a statewide initiative, and CDOT is working to encourage all Colorado communities to join. By working together, we can make Colorado’s roads safer for everyone.