With traffic deaths trending in the wrong direction, Boulder County commissioners heard an update from staff on the county’s work to eliminate these types of tragedies.
Boulder County is one of several Front Range communities committed to Vision Zero, which has an ambitious goal of stopping serious injuries and fatal crashes by 2035. Commissioners meet with staff quarterly to get updates on this work, including on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, 2022 was one of the deadliest in the county for traffic-caused deaths with 35 fatalities, mirroring statewide and national increases. As of the end of January this year, three people have died in traffic crashes in Boulder County.
Staff have identified four trends that contribute most to traffic deaths in the county and are working to address some of those issues. That includes centerline crossing on U.S. 287, cars hitting bicycles from behind or while turning, turns at intersections in general and single vehicle crashes caused by impairment.
A safety study is underway on 287 and the county just applied for a state grant to possibly add a median barrier to help prevent those centerline crossings.
The county continues to invest in bicycle lanes, providing riders their own space with paved shoulders, adding buffering and introducing new bike lanes. Staff is also working with the Colorado Department of Transportation to add bike lanes separate from the road on certain highways.
Education efforts are part of the approach, including the Trip Tracker program for reducing motor traffic around schools, Biker Friendly Driver education and a Lending Library for safe route educational materials.
Christian Gardner-Wood, chief deputy district attorney for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, highlighted the spike the office saw in cases related to careless driving resulting in death, vehicular assault and vehicular homicides last year. He also pointed to the traffic safety program available for certain drivers caught speeding that can help educate drivers about the danger of their actions through a one-on-one restorative conversation.
At the state level, Boulder County is supporting legislation that would make it easier for local jurisdictions to implement photo radar speed enforcement.
County staff encouraged the public to make suggestions to improve the safety of Boulder County roads by going to bouldercounty.gov/transportation/multimodal/vision-zero/.
