FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2024
Contact:
Richard Donovan
Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments
203-757-0535
Rdonovan@nvcogct.gov
Advancing Toward Safer Roadways: NVCOG Releases NVision Zero Progress Report 2022
(Waterbury, CT) – The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) is proud to announce the release of its inaugural NVision Zero Progress Report, covering calendar year 2022. This publication marks a significant milestone in the region’s journey towards safer roadways for all. Grounded in the Vision Zero movement, NVision Zero serves as the name of the Naugatuck Valley’s campaign to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2060.
Since endorsing Vision Zero principles on September 9, 2022, safety has become the top priority for the Naugatuck Valley. The NVCOG is the first Connecticut Council of Governments to adopt a Vision Zero commitment advocating for a new approach to transportation planning that recognizes that traffic deaths are preventable. Vision Zero utilizes a combination of engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency response to address safety from all perspectives, paying special attention to equity concerns in the process.
The NVision Zero Progress Report 2022 is the first in a series of annual updates on the region’s Vision Zero progress. This report contains information about crash frequency, severity, location, and mode disparity. Utilizing regional crash data, the NVCOG identifies locations with the highest number of fatal and serious injury crashes, laying the groundwork for focused investments and improvements in these critical areas. In 2022, 12,427 total crashes occurred on streets within the Naugatuck Valley, revealing a stark reality of 243 fatalities and serious injuries. The NVCOG intends to leverage transportation planning, design, policy, enforcement, education, and communication to achieve its goal of safer roads for all.
For more information on the NVCOG’s Vision Zero visit the web page at nvcogct.gov/highway-safety-program/. The NVision Zero Progress Report 2022 is available on the NVCOG website at nvcogct.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NVision-Zero-Report_2022.pdf.
About the Naugatuck Valley’s NVision Zero
In October 2023, Connecticut’s Congressional Delegation secured a pivotal $1.7 million for traffic and road safety projects in our state through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Within this funding, the NVCOG was awarded $320,064 through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program. Staff engineers and planners meticulously extracted crash data from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository (CTCDR), a web tool designed to offer comprehensive crash information collected by state and local police. Briefings were conducted before the NVCOG Transportation Technical Advisory Committee (TTAC), who provide recommendations to the NVCOG Board on transportation infrastructure, safety and maintenance. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and other officials commemorated the award on November 20, 2023, at a press conference on the Waterbury Green. The NVCOG will use this funding to update the NVision Zero Action Plan, which will employ a data-driven approach to identify dangerous roadway locations, propose conceptual improvements and address systemwide actions that will promote safety for all road users.
