Recently, the Road to Zero coalition hosted “Saving Lives on our Roadways at the Merging Intersection of People & Technology” here at the center. Speakers and topics included “How Can Safe Systems Compensate for Human Behavior Limitations?” presented by Peter Hancock, director of the MIT2 (Minds in Technology) Research Laboratories from the University of Central Florida and “Modifying the Curve of Future Technology Development with Adoption, Product Development & Gaps in Consumer Education” presented by Chuck Gulash, senior executive engineer from Toyota Motor North American Research Institute and Collaborative Safety Research Center. Participants broke into groups to begin work 
on safety priority statements and to advance work on ZERO deaths on our roadways. Breakout groups included the following topics ranked highest in a recent survey:
- distraction
- impairment
- speed
- safety of vulnerable users
- infrastructure
- safety culture/safe systems
The goal is safe mobility for all people and will work to develop priorities; take action individually and collaboratively; and encourage partners and stakeholders to take action to meet the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities by 2050. It might seem like a lofty goal, but key stakeholders think it’s possible. “The aim of Road to Zero is to get to zero deaths in the next 30 years,” says Debbie Hersman, the president and CEO of the National Safety Council, the lead on the Road to Zero initiative. “That’s the goal. We’ve done this with aviation—there have been several years with zero deaths in commercial aviation—and a lot of people thought that was impossible. We’re really focused on incorporating all of the initiatives that we’ve seen through Toward Zero Deaths, Vision Zero and a number of different groups to get to zero.”
More than 300 organizations have joined the coalition to date and the DOT has committed $1 million a year for three years to fund the various grants and organizations that will be part of the coalition. Road to Zero is a collaboration focused on ending traffic fatalities—a leading cause of unintentional death—on our roadways within 30 years. The National Safety Council leads the initiative as a partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Click here if you’d like to join and become a member of our Road to Zero coalition; it takes less than a minute to sign up and there is no cost. Member organizations become a stakeholder in working towards ZERO fatalities on our roadways and become part of the national solution to ending the upward trend of deaths on our roadways. How little or how much you participate is up to you.
The Road to Zero coalition is looking forward to hosting their next meeting in October at Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health! The Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health supports various departments and initiatives of Kaiser Permanente and external organizations. All events– annual banquet, quarterly meeting, training, interviews, etc—follow the Healthy Meeting Tools created by the Kaiser Permanente. The Center for Total Health Staff thrive to create an environment that is both fun and informative. Most of all, we take great pride in supporting your event and our high guest satisfaction scores prove it. If your organization is interested in hosting an event, please send us an event request located on our website. We look forward to you joining us!
