Chicago Latino Caucus Statement in Support of Vision Zero Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2024

CHICAGO – For over a decade Chicago has talked about Vision Zero, the goal of zero traffic fatalities; meanwhile we have never had fewer than one hundred traffic-related deaths in a calendar year. It is time to stop treating Vision Zero like a utopian ideal and more like the realistic goal that many municipalities–including Evanston, IL–have achieved.

In July, Alderman La Spata along with caucus members Cruz and Vasquez introduced three pieces of legislation that will help Chicago reach its goal of Vision Zero. The first proposes to lower Chicago's default speed limit from thirty to twenty-five miles per hour, bringing us into alignment with cities like Oak Park and Evanston, but also peer cities like Minneapolis and New York. Among myriad studies, New York's Department of Transportation has confirmed that reducing their speed limit in 2014 alone has resulted in a 23% reduction in traffic fatalities.

We also know that Chicagoans have viewed past attempts to reduce driving speeds with mistrust because of the racial inequities experienced in our enforcement. The lack of transparency in our revenue, the racial disparities in who receives citations, and the lack of improvements made to dangerous intersections have made many Chicagoans view speed enforcement more as a cash grab than a public safety concern. The second piece of legislation is a resolution calling for an interdepartmental working group that will propose reforms to enforcement and revenue policies accompanying any reduction in the speed limit.

The third piece of legislation is an ordinance establishing a resident-based enforcement model by which Chicagoans could submit visual evidence of bus and bike lane blockages through 311, resulting in a variation of warnings and citations depending on the type of vehicle. When our bus and bike infrastructure is blocked by private vehicles they become useless at best and dangerous at worst. We also know that our current enforcement policies fail to address these behaviors.

Traffic-related injuries and deaths are not grounded in accidents, but intentions. Our streets, sidewalks and speeds are hazardous by design. Every death, every major injury, finds its foundation in active policy and infrastructure choices that led to the loss of those lives. The good news is that we have the power to un-make those choices in ways that bring more of our neighbors home. Vision Zero is a path made through both/and decisions. Policy and planning. Evidence-based design and equitable implementation. As such, we support these three pieces of legislation that will lead to a safer Chicago for all.

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