Active transportation is a key component of transportation initiatives. Here are some of the most common related movements that include or influence active transportation.
Complete Streets
Complete Streets is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enables safe access for all people who need to use them, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.
Learn more about Complete Streets:
Caltrans Office of Complete Streets
Resources
The new AARP publication Complete Streets: Model Legislation for States and Municipalities features solutions for speeding up the Complete Streets implementation process, applies the Complete Streets approach to transportation funding, and emphasizes the importance of equity in Complete Streets decision-making. The guide includes tools for project selection criteria and measuring and reporting performance.
Vision Zero and Safe Systems Approach
Vision Zero is the goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries. The zero deaths vision acknowledges that even one death on our transportation system is unacceptable and focuses on safe mobility for all road users. The Safe System Approach is a framework to achieve this goal, founded on the principles that humans make mistakes and that human bodies have limited ability to tolerate crash impacts. Applying the Safe System approach involves anticipating human mistakes by designing and managing road infrastructure to keep the risk of a mistake low; and when a mistake leads to a crash, the impact on the human body doesn’t result in a fatality or serious injury. Road design and management should encourage safe speeds and manipulate appropriate crash angles to reduce injury severity.
Learn more about Vision Zero and the Safe Systems Approach:
FHWA Zero Deaths and Safe System webpage
California Strategic Highway Safety Plan Safe Systems Approach Flyer
California Office of Traffic Safety Safe Systems Approach webpage
Resources
This document presents best practices and examples on the adoption, implementation, and long-term sustainability of the Safe System approach.
To advance the implementation of the Safe System Approach (SSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed two (2) resources for measuring SSA alignment—the Safe System PROJECT-BASED Alignment Framework and the Safe System POLICY-BASED Alignment Framework. Each of these frameworks aim to quantify alignment or integration across the Safe System elements and principles. Integrating equity is also included in the frameworks to address disparate fatal and serious injury crash outcomes impacting underserved communities and vulnerable road users.
Vision Zero and the Safe Systems approach call for a paradigm shift in transportation safety which requires transportation professionals to understand their roles as public health professionals and incorporate public health principles into their thinking and practice. The Safe Systems Pyramid provides a framework for such thinking.
The Safe System Roadway Design Hierarchy characterizes engineering and infrastructure-based countermeasures and strategies relative to their alignment with the Safe System Approach.
The Vision Zero Community of Practice (VZ CoP) offers technical resources to assist local communities with reaching their goal of zero traffic fatalities through the adoption and implementation of Vision Zero.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), along with a number of partners, supports the vision of zero deaths, including Vision Zero. The VZ CoP is a part of FHWA’s efforts to bring the latest resources to practitioners who have adopted or are considering adopting Vision Zero, applying the Safe System Approach, and growing a positive safety culture in their communities.
The Vision Zero Toolkit provides communities, organizations, and advocates with tools and resources to advance Vision Zero. Each section includes a variety of available resources, as well as notable practices from existing Vision Zero communities.
Safe Routes to School
Safe Routes to School is an initiative that works to make it safe, convenient, and fun for children to walk and bicycle to and from schools. The goal is to get more children walking and bicycling to school, improve kids’ safety, and increase health and physical activity. Safe Routes to School uses the Six Es framework for a comprehensive, integrated approach: Engagement, Equity, Engineering, Encouragement, Education, and Evaluation.
Learn more about Safe Routes to School here.
