Public Health Involvement in United States' Vision Zero Initiatives: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

Context: Vision Zero (VZ) aims to reduce fatalities and serious injuries from road traffic crashes to zero through multidisciplinary coordination. While public health officials are often recognized as critical to VZ, their involvement in VZ across the United States has not been quantified.

Objective: To explore how United States public health officials were involved in VZ development and implementation.

Design: We used a mixed-method design including a quantitative assessment of VZ plans and in-depth interviewing with VZ coordinators.

Setting: United States.

Participants: Twenty-two in-depth interviews with municipal (n = 12) and regional (n = 10) VZ coordinators and 43 VZ plans were reviewed.

Main outcome measure: Public health involvement in VZ development and implementation.

Results: In the United States, 64 municipalities and 21 regional entities had first-time VZ plans published between 2014 and 2022. We abstracted a sample of municipal (n = 22) and all (n = 21) regional plans. Most plans described key groups involved in plan development (municipal 81.8%, regional 100%). About two-thirds (67.4%; 59.1% municipal, 76.2% regional) of the plans noted public health officials in the plan development. Most plans described the principles forming the foundation of their plan (83.7%), but few mentioned public health as part of the plan principles (22.7% municipal, 14.3% regional). Public health officials were involved in engaging the community (9.1% municipal, 33.3% regional) and providing data (22.7% municipal, 52.4% regional) for plan development, as documented in the plans. For proposed implementation, public health officials were identified as involved in: community engagement (31.8% municipal, 42.9% regional), sharing/analyzing data (40.9% municipal, 33.3% regional), and identifying/providing funding sources (13.6% municipal, 4.8% regional). The in-depth interviews provided further context and a more detailed understanding of public health involvement in VZ.

Conclusions: Evidence from the VZ plans and interviews provided examples of how public health officials engaged in the development and implementation of VZ initiatives.