Safe System Initiative for Cottonwood Heights

Active Transportation and Safe Mobility through Safe System Approach

        -an initiative led by Cottonwood Heights Council Member Ellen Birrell, July 21, 2022 

In the past few years Cottonwood Heights has been trying to make mobility improvements without a unified vision, with no system.  This clearly cannot continue.  It is my intent, as your City Council representative, to commit our city to provide equal protection mobility rights so people of all ages and abilities are free to choose how they move about in our city – and beyond.

Because every Cottonwood Heights road fails to meet the highest standards for safety, no person is truly safe.  For that reason I intend for our city to adopt the US Department of Transportation’s Safe System Approach and begin the task to ensure that only the highest standards of safety are applied equally throughout our great city.

Our city’s vision must encompass these universal truths:

·      that death and serious injuries are unacceptable

·      that humans make mistakes

·      that humans are vulnerable

·      that it’s the government’s responsibility & obligation to ensure safety of all users

·      that safety is proactive

·      and that redundancy is crucial

To accomplish our goal, our city must commit to:

·      Enact policies that take into account a person’s ability to survive a crash and never – EVER – design a public facility that invites people to interact in a unsafe manner.

·      Build roads that mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, to encourage safer behaviors, and to facilitate safe travel by the most vulnerable users.

·      Plan for safe speeds through thoughtful context and appropriate roadway design.

·      Provide an expedient response for emergency medical care on every corner of our city.

·      Start immediately with Neighborhood Bypass Routes getting more of our cyclists and pedestrians off of our, as yet, unsafe collectors and arterials.

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform our city through a mix of federal grants being made available to cities like ours. To make improvements that will benefit our communities today, but cast a better life for future generations.