THE MISSION
The mission of the District of Columbia government’s Department of Transportation (DDOT) is to enhance the quality of life for District residents and visitors. DDOT strives to help people, goods, and information move efficiently and safely throughout the city with minimal adverse impact on residents and the environment.
The District of Columbia’s Highway Safety Office (HSO) was established in accordance with the Highway Safety Act of 1966 and activities are primarily funded through federal grants from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The HSO is responsible for the coordination and management of the District’s highway safety programs. This includes:
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taking a leadership role in identifying the District’s traffic safety emphasis areas and collaboration with safety and private sector organizations
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developing and implementing the District’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), which focuses on identifying problems, performance measures and goals to improve traffic safety. The SHSP goal is to reduce all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 20 percent by 2025
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working in tandem with NHTSA to implement programs to improve transportation safety in the District.
The HSO is committed to making District roads safe, focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues such as impaired driving, seat belt use, aggressive driving, ditracted driving child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety and teen driving issues.
VISION ZERO
The Vision Zero Initiative is part of the US Department of Transportation’s Mayor’s Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets, which aims to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation safety.
The Initiative strives to help the District greatly reduce fatalities and serious injuries from the transportation system by 2024.
It is intended for this to be achieved through more effective use of data, education, enforcement and engineering. Transportation officials will be looking at speeds, roadway design, responses to crashes, enforcement and behaviors to improve pedestrian and bike safety.