Dallas – Forth Worth, along with every other Texas MPO, adopted safety targets set by TXDOT that continue to project increasing deaths year-over-year. However, the Regional Transportation Council (RTC), the decision making body for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), demonstrated initial steps towards meaningful advances in transportation safety.
The council added an aspirational regional goal to its resolution, stating that “even one death on the transportation system is unacceptable.”
While this declaration is not reflected in the performance measures – there is no formal timeline for reducing traffic fatalities – the leadership displayed by the RTC positions the MPO to adopt more ambitious safety targets. Doing so will require the identification and establishment of appropriate data sources that will enable precise tracking of individual components of safety goals. CAMPO, the Austin region MPO, recently took these steps through an agreement with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
After adopting the safety targets, RTC Chair Rob Franke, P.E. and Cedar Hill Mayor, remarked that, “I think it was November of 2000, the last time we had a day in Texas where someone wasn’t killed on the highways.”
November 7, 2000, was the last day in Texas with zero traffic deaths.
[Dallas Skyline Credit: Dave Hensley, Creative Commons License, via Flickr]