The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) this week announced the state's participation in the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) campaign as part of the 2021 Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP).
CTDOT says TZD is a national strategy on highway safety that uses a unified approach to change driver behavior and improve highway safety with a goal of reducing the number of traffic-related serious injuries or deaths to zero.
In 2020, with help from safety partners across the state, CTDOT developed a new roadmap for the future of transportation safety, the Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The SHSP leverages those partnerships to coordinate education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency response initiatives to build and enhance a culture of safety and provide a safe transportation system.
“The safety of all who travel in and through Connecticut is a top priority,” Joseph Giulietti, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said in a statement. “When anyone uses the transportation system, whether driving a car or riding a motorcycle, walking or cycling, driving a truck or riding a bus—our goal is for everyone to arrive safely at their destination, every trip, every time.”
Roadway crashes claimed 37,133 lives in 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). So far, more than 45 states, along with dozens of local and tribal agencies, have adopted a zero-fatalities goal such as Toward Zero Deaths. The SHSP provides guidance for organizations and individuals to implement to help create a culture of safety throughout Connecticut.
According to a statement from Deputy Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, Connecticut saw 308 lives lost on roads and highways in 2020, the highest level in a decade. Preliminary CTDOT data shows there were 83,664 motor vehicle crashes in the state.
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SOURCE: Connecticut DOT
