The Value of Vision Zero is Zero

Recently in the Arizona Republic, Abe Kwok’s editorial asks the almost absurd question: “Can lower speeds in Tempe save lives?” The headline goes on to answer that question with a more absurd answer: “Probably.” This is like asking whether I can reduce head injuries if I stop beating my head against the wall. We can, of course, reduce car/pedestrian accidents to zero by banning all cars or by reducing the speed limit to zero. This ridiculous notion is embodied in the “Vision Zero” plan and Tempe is the latest city to get sucked into the vortex of this fuzzy thinking. Such plans as Vision Zero ignore the trade-off that all cities must make when they recognize the value of getting people where they need to go as safely AND as efficiently as possible. The real plan behind the Vision Zero promoters is to get people out of their cars and into Light Rail or walking or biking or using other mass transportation systems. This is a common goal of all liberal central planners; control. They just can’t stand the idea of people getting into their cars and traveling wherever they want to go and whenever they want to go.

I remember many years ago there was an organization called N.O.T.S.A.F.E which was an acronym for the National Organization Taunting Safety and Fairness Everywhere. It advocated laws that establish a nationwide five mile per hour speed limit and require that anyone walking in a thunderstorm had to carry a lightning rod, etc. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Vision Zero embodies similar logic. Let’s reduce our speed in adopting that vision to……..zero..