At the Sept. 30 memorial bike ride for Robb Mason, I took inspiration from the strength and leadership of his wife, Claudia Mason. She spoke passionately to more than 100 community members at the site where Robb was killed in a hit-and-run crime just east of the West Seattle Low Bridge on Southwest Spokane Street while biking home. 

I spoke at the end of the memorial about our new approach to Vision Zero that is coming together in my first month as Seattle Department of Transportation Director. I felt it was important to share the most up-to-date information about my actions and intentions.

On my very first day on the job, I issued a call to action that we need a top-to-bottom review of our Vision Zero efforts. Vision Zero is Seattle’s plan to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. I know it is easy for us to say, “We already know what to do.” But in government, we must put limited resources to the highest use, and they must be data-driven and community informed. I want to ensure a robust analysis that produces a hypothesis as to why what we’ve done before hasn’t worked well enough. Why are traffic deaths rising even though we are spending money and making changes to our streets? Which changes are working? Which weren’t as effective?

I’ve appointed an executive sponsor and a project manager to accomplish the review, which will take about 90 days. We will be a responsive, innovative, transparent and accountable agency by publishing what we learn. The findings will lead to recommendations about how to make our Vision Zero efforts more effective.  

Simultaneously, we’ve stood up a large team across divisions to ensure safety is the No. 1 priority across all functions and aspects of the Seattle Department of Transportation. Nothing else is as important. Safety and Vision Zero aren’t going to live in a pocket in the organization anymore. Safety will be something we all own, all 1,200 employees, every day.

At the kickoff meeting of this new cross-departmental effort, one of our senior leaders asked me, “When will the department have the license to prioritize enhancing safety over other concerns in operating Seattle’s street system?”  

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And I told him, “Today. Now. Go and do it.”

And what could be a better time than now, with traffic patterns continuing to change from the pandemic and more people working remotely? Now is when we can shift signal timing and the operations of our transportation system to put safety first above all else.

I know the work is challenging. Other cities are seeing increases in traffic deaths. National numbers for 2021 were at horrific all-time highs. In many cities, fewer people are driving, but they are driving at higher speeds. Speeding, street design and the national rise of larger vehicles mean more deadly crashes.  

Now is the time to pull together and make ending traffic deaths and serious injuries our No. 1 priority.  

I don’t think this is an easy problem to solve. It’s a problem requiring will and recommitment to creating safer Seattle streets. And you have that from me. You have it from Mayor Bruce Harrell. That’s why Mayor Harrell hired me.

I will report back regularly on our progress. We’ll share the data, good and bad, the analysis, and the top to bottom Vision Zero Program review findings.  

We’re going to make our streets safer. Let’s keep pulling together. Let’s keep working together. Everyone needs to do their part. So please remember Claudia Mason’s plea from her Aug. 15 Seattle Times Op-Ed: “You can do one simple thing. Be Late. Slow Down.”