Savannah works to reduce traffic deaths on city streets

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -On Thursday, the city of Savannah will take its first steps towards their goal of having zero deaths on city streets by the year 2027.

The initiative is called “Vision Zero” and other communities across the US have adopted this plan and seen success. During the city council meeting on Thursday, council members will vote for the city to start that process.

Alderman Nick Palumbo says that Savannah averages about 22 traffic deaths a year on city streets, but with better engineering and design, he thinks they can get that number down to zero.

It is a 5-year initiative that will draw up a plan to improve highway systems and make the streets safer for everyone. The focus of this project is not in the downtown area but in the trouble spots on the southside as well as east and west Savannah.

“We are going to have to work city wide to achieve this effort, it is going to take every neighborhood association to get on board to be able to pull this off,” said Nick Palumbo, the alderman in district 4. “We know that these deaths are preventable, that we can engineer our way out of this and that traffic crashes are preventable ultimately, and serious pedestrian injury, serious bicycle injury at the same time.”

Bike Walk Savannah is standing behind this effort and they are encouraging you to join in. They are asking for people to gather on the south side of Forsyth Park at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. As a group, they will walk, bike or skate to city hall in support before the city council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

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