Albuquerque Public Schools
What is APS Vision Zero?
APS Vision Zero is a commitment to eliminate fatalities for all modes of transportation.
About APS Vision Zero
Vision Zero was initiated in Sweden and has been successful in reducing pedestrian fatalities all over the world. Cities, counties, school districts, etc. have adopted the Vision Zero framework in various forms.
The City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico consistently rank among the nation's highest rates for pedestrian fatalities (Governor’s Highway Association, 2020), which is unacceptable.
(Vision Zero Network, 2022)
Albuquerque Public Schools adopts the Vision Zero framework in the APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative, aiming to create safer conditions for students walking to school, riding their bikes, riding the bus, and getting picked up and dropped off for school.
The APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative takes the approach that traffic deaths and injuries to students and community members are preventable through education about transportation safety for not only students of APS, but the Albuquerque community as a whole.
APS takes a systems approach in designing and implementing the APS Vision Zero Initiative by engaging students in the planning & design process, collaborating with key traffic safety stakeholders within APS and the greater Albuquerque/New Mexico community, and facilitating ongoing training, outreach, and education for students, teachers, and schools delivering the APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative.
APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative
The APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative has three major components. These components have been developed with longevity, effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability in mind. Student engagement and feedback about traffic safety in Albuquerque are key to the success of the APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative. In 2021, APS Capital Master Plan conducted outreach with students of schools that are high-priority for traffic safety. The stories, insight, and data about traffic safety in Albuquerque are the blueprint for the following components of the APS vision Zero Initiative:
Initiative Goals and Objectives
- Ensure that kids feel safe to walk and bike to school.
- Ensure that parents feel safe letting their kids walk and bike to school.
- Identify and eliminate obstacles for kids walking and biking to school. This will involve inter-jurisdictional coordination.
- Identify and address dangerous areas for walking and biking around schools. This will involve inter-jurisdictional coordination.
- Promote driver awareness for safely driving around pedestrians.
- Teach students to properly navigate routes to school safely as pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Teach drivers to properly and safely navigate complete streets.
- Teach drivers rules for pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Ensure that education is place-based and relevant
- Strategize equitable intervention, particularly in highly impacted and vulnerable communities, which utilize public transit, walking and biking as primary means of transportation.
- Improve student and community health through use of active transportation and lowering carbon emissions.