Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Vision Zero topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Las Cruces staff present Vision 0 safety plan to target traffic fatalities and serious injuries
Summary
City staff presented Vision 0 and a forthcoming Safety Action Plan to reduce fatalities and serious injuries, highlighting data-driven corridors, low-cost countermeasures and a proposed stakeholder committee to prioritize projects and funding.
Brent Crowther, a consultant with Kimberly Horn and Associates, told the Las Cruces City Council on May 11 that Vision 0 is a high-level goal and strategy “to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries.” Crowther said the approach frames traffic deaths as preventable and informs a Safety Action Plan that will identify high‑injury corridors, prioritize low‑cost countermeasures and recommend funding and phasing.
The consultant presented statewide and local data and said New Mexico’s fatalities rose after 2020 and were about 444 in 2025. "We will dig down into where crashes are occurring and, more importantly, where they are occurring with more frequency than similar corridors," Crowther said, describing a heat‑mapping process that the Safe Streets for All grant will fund.
The plan adopts a Safe System approach, Crowther said, emphasizing speed management, roadway separation and emergency response improvements. He cited Federal Highway Administration countermeasures such as enhanced crossings, back plates on signs and rectangular rapid‑flashing beacons as examples of interventions the city could prioritize.
Councilor Harris said Las Cruces can exercise near‑complete control over local traffic engineering and favored lower urban speed limits, arguing that reducing speed is critical because kinetic energy rises with the square of speed. "I don't think any corridor inside the city proper needs to be more than 35 miles an hour," Harris said.
Councilor Bencomo urged changes to crash reporting and language used in police reports so the focus shifts "away from who was at fault to what made this crash predictable and preventable," arguing that the Safe System approach requires understanding why people make certain choices and addressing infrastructure gaps.
Interim Public Works Director Kyle Oren and the consultant said the Safety Action Plan will form an implementation group and technical advisory committee that will include law enforcement and other stakeholders. No formal council action was required at the work session; staff said the Safe Streets for All process is underway and will produce a draft Safety Action Plan, public engagement schedule and prioritized list of projects for future council consideration.
