BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—A Florida Department of Transportation representative briefed the Keystone Heights Rotary Club about FDOT’s goal to reduce traffic fatalities to zero.
Jordan Green, director of transportation support for the agency’s District 2 office, described FDOT’s Target Zero program.
Green told the civic group that an average of eight people die on Florida roads daily, with 49 people receiving serious injuries.
He said that in District 2, which consists of 18 counties in northeast Florida, from Cedar Key to Madison County to Fernandina Beach down to St. Johns County, driver error contributes to the vast majority of traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Green said the department has refined all its processes with safety in mind, from planning and design to construction and maintenance.
“The improved processes are based on state crash data and focus on lane departures, intersections, and bicycle and pedestrian safety,” he said.
Green added that even if the state agency does all it can to reduce fatalities, drivers are the ones who ultimately impact traffic deaths and injuries.
“It will take all of us,” he said. “When you use the transportation system, make safe choices: buckle up, obey traffic laws and don’t drive distracted or impaired. That will help us drive towards target zero.”
Green said that lane departures account for one-third of traffic crashes but cause almost one-half of traffic fatalities.
The speaker said another alarming trend on Florida highways is a 27% increase in fatalities at intersections between 2015 and 2019.
He said the public assumes that traffic signals will decrease crashes at intersections, but that is not necessarily the case.
“Signals introduce their own challenges,” he said. “You increase a lot of left turns, and left turning crashes are, I think, second only to head-on crashes and lane departure crashes (in causing death and serious injury).”
Green added that traffic signals also increase rear-end collisions.
“Somebody sees a green light,” he said, “and they hope the car in front of them will go through it as it turns yellow, so they accelerate. Well, if that person decides to stop, you get a rear-end collision.”
“So, we’re looking at other things, like roundabouts and U-turns,” he continued. “If you don’t remember anything I tell you, remember this: a U-turn is safer than a left turn.”
Green said pedestrian safety is another concern. In District 2, the department has focused on fatalities on Gainesville’s University Boulevard with traffic calming devices.
Green said outreach and education is another critical component of Target Zero, adding that community groups like the Rotary Club can help the department by spreading the word about traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
“We just need to have those conversations,” he said, “and they need to be constant and ongoing.”
