This New Jersey City Has Had ZERO Traffic Fatalities In 7 Years, Here's WHY...

However, the tragic death of an elderly pedestrian prompted city officials to take drastic measures, further reducing parking spaces in an ambitious bid to eliminate traffic fatalities.

For the past seven years, the city, home to nearly 60,000 residents, has reported significant success. Since January 2017, there have been no reported deaths of automobile occupants, bicyclists, or pedestrians due to traffic accidents. This achievement has positioned Hoboken as a national exemplar for roadway safety.

Ravi Bhalla, who was a City Council member in 2015, was deeply moved by the death of 89-year-old Agnes Accera, who was struck by a van while crossing Washington Street in the city's bustling downtown business district. Although Bhalla did not personally know Accera, he attended her wake and was inspired to advocate for improved safety measures.

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"I felt it wasn’t acceptable," Bhalla said. "Our seniors, who we owe the greatest duty of safety to, should be able to pass that street as safely as possible. For her to actually be killed was a trigger that we needed to take action."

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March 05, 2024

Upon assuming the role of mayor in 2018, Bhalla led the city in fully committing to Vision Zero, a set of guidelines adopted by numerous cities, states, and nations seeking to eliminate traffic deaths. Advocates of this approach believe that no accident is truly unavoidable and propose to eliminate the term "accident" when referring to roadway fatalities.

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Originating in Sweden over twenty-five years ago, the Vision Zero concept has been endorsed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in 2022. Major U.S. cities, including New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Portland, Oregon, have incorporated elements of the program into their safety plans. One such element is daylighting, the removal of parking spaces near intersections to improve visibility.

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Hoboken's success has challenged the perception that achieving zero traffic deaths is more of an aspiration than a realistic goal.

"That goal is obviously bold," said Leah Shahum, founder and director of the Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit advocating for street safety. "It’s also meant to help us kind of shake off the complacency that we’ve had for too long that traffic deaths are inevitable, that what we’re experiencing today is just an unfortunate and unavoidable byproduct of modern society. That’s not the case."

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Hoboken's comprehensive plan includes various components such as lower speed limits and staggered traffic lights. However, daylighting is often credited as one of the primary reasons for the city's drop in fatalities to zero.

Ryan Sharp, Hoboken’s transportation director, explained that when roads need to be repaved, the city takes the additional step of cordoning off the street corners to widen curbs and shorten crosswalks. Although it's already illegal to park at an intersection in Hoboken, drivers often do so in the absence of physical barriers.

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Some of the new concrete structures are equipped with bike racks, benches, and even rain garden planters that help absorb stormwater runoff. If there isn’t enough money for an infrastructure solution right away, the city puts up temporary bollards.

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"There really isn’t a silver bullet or any magic, innovative thing where we’ve cracked a code," Sharp said. "Our approach has been more about focusing on the fundamentals. We’ve created a program where we’re layering these things in year after year."

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However, the removal of parking spaces in an area where they are already in short supply has drawn criticism.

Joe Picolli, who opened Hoboken Barber Shop on Washington Street in 2018, said the curb extensions — or bumpouts — have made it difficult for downtown merchants to win back business lost during the pandemic.

"Before the bumpouts, there were a lot more buses, a lot more cars, a lot more parking," said Picolli, who lives in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and sometimes has to trail street sweepers to find parking. "It’s good as far as people walking on the street, but it’s bad because you’re not getting the flow from other towns."

Despite being slightly larger than its Mile Square City nickname suggests, Hoboken ranks fourth nationwide in population density, according to 2022 census data. While the city's compact size means everyone is within range of public transit, cars still crowd the major streets and curbsides.

"We’re not New York City, but we’re not a suburb, either," said Tammy Peng, a long-time Hoboken resident. "We’re kind of a weird in between. A lot of families keep a car because they want to run errands on the weekend, but Monday to Friday they’re commuting into the city."

While daylighting slightly lengthens her trips to soccer practice or the grocery store, Peng said it's much easier to spot pedestrians crossing the street.

Since New York joined the Vision Zero movement in 2014, overall fatality numbers have remained largely unchanged. However, Mayor Eric Adams boosted the city's commitment in November by promising to daylight 1,000 intersections each year.

Some cities have even used the practice to beautify their downtowns. Baltimore, for instance, hired artists to liven up curb extensions with geometric shapes and vibrant colors.

States are also embracing daylighting. More than 40 had enacted some sort of daylighting law when California's Legislature approved a new statewide rule in 2023 that prohibits parking within 20 feet of an intersection. Cities can set shorter distances with proof their plans are safe. Violators started receiving warnings in January and face fines beginning early next year.

Assemblymember Alex Lee, who authored California's legislation, said he was troubled by the fact that his state’s traffic fatalities were even higher than the national average, with around 1,100 pedestrians killed in both 2021 and 2022. Deaths were recorded at a similar pace through the first six months of 2023.

"Just as I assume in every state you can’t park in front of a fire hydrant or can’t park close to the train track, it should be the same whether you’re in California or Nebraska," Lee said.

Stefanie Seskin, director of policy and practice at the National Association of City Transportation Officials, said signs are fine, but not nearly as effective as infrastructure changes.

"It certainly takes a next level of chutzpah for a driver to park on a curb extension than it does to park where a sign says ‘please don’t,’" Seskin said.

Jeff Speck, author of the book "Walkable City," which makes the case for pedestrian-friendly downtowns, commends cities like Hoboken for improving visibility at intersections. However, he said some communities go too far by taking away too many parking spaces without adding physical barriers, creating broad "sight triangles" leading to increased speeding.

"What a number of cities have done is overreacted to the laudable goal of daylighting and placed oversized no-parking zones around every driveway and curb cut," Speck said. "That’s counterproductive."

In 2012, Seattle was one of the first major U.S. cities to pursue zero traffic deaths. Mike McGinn, the mayor at the time, said he wanted to recalibrate the public's expectation of road safety to make it more akin to their thoughts on airplane safety, where no fatality is considered acceptable.

Why, he asks, should downtown areas where people work, shop, or attend entertainment events have to settle for a lower standard?

"This is literally the easiest real estate that should be given over to safety," said McGinn, now executive director of the pedestrian advocacy group America Walks. "It’s low-hanging fruit."