Pittsburgh doubles down on goal to reduce car crashes

Pittsburgh officials on Monday reaffirmed a commitment to reducing fatal vehicle crashes through speed hump installations and similar projects.

The initiative, called Vison Zero, aims to curb car crashes and eliminate fatal crashes.

City officials have dedicated $1.4 million to traffic safety initiatives this year, about double the amount set aside for such efforts last year. Officials plan to focus on areas that have been identified as having high rates of injuries and fatalities.

Officials could not immediately offer specific details on when Vision Zero projects would be implemented or where these projects would take place.

This work started when the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure was created in 2016. DOMI Director Kim Lucas said the city seeks to ramp up the work on traffic calming efforts with its increased budget.

This comes after 21 people died in vehicle crashes on Pittsburgh’s streets in 2023, including seven pedestrians, according to DOMI data.

“We have something to learn from each and every one of those fatalities to truly get to Vision Zero,” said Mike Maloch, the city’s municipal traffic engineer.

Traffic calming projects will include speed humps, flex posts, bump outs, pavement markings, improved traffic signals, pedestrian countdown timers and audible pedestrian signals, Maloch said. It also could include barring right turns on red lights at some intersections.

Installation of speed humps and related projects have reduced speeding by 55%, according to information from DOMI, and prohibiting right turns on red decreases pedestrian-involved crashes at those intersections by 60%, Maloch said.

There will be particular emphasis placed on roads where officials have identified a high rate of serious crashes. Those roads include Bennett Street, Frankstown Avenue, Penn Avenue, Liberty Avenue and Grant Street, Maloch said.

Lucas acknowledged a backlog of about 1,000 traffic safety requests throughout the city. Officials said they’re working to catch up on such efforts while prioritizing roads and intersections based on crash history, the number of pedestrians in the area, equity considerations and other factors.

Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, said there may be a need for quick, temporary fixes in some areas that are waiting for solutions. She highlighted the urgency of making the city’s streets safer, as fatal crashes increased by 71% between 2018 and 2022. Police in Pittsburgh respond to vehicle crashes about four times as often as opioid overdoses, according to statistics provided by DOMI.

City officials called on state leaders to help with the Zero Vision goals by permitting the city to use automatic speeding enforcement, which would require state authorization to implement.

They also called on city drivers to do their part by driving safely, obeying speed limits, stopping at stop signs and watching out for pedestrians and cyclists.

“We can save lives, but we can only do it when we come together,” Mayor Ed Gainey said.