Vision Zero’s improvements to protected left turns cut traffic injuries and fatalities in half

In May, the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department and Vision Zero program announced that its Barton Springs Road safety pilot program – which reduced the road to one lane in each direction between Azie Morton Road and South Lamar Boulevard, added lanes at intersections and relocated bus stops to places with crossings – has worked to reduce speeding by 65 percent on that road. In June, the department reported that safety improvements across the city have reduced fatal and serious injury crashes by 22 percent. This month, it has even more positive news. 

In a new Vision Zero report, TPW shows that 100 locations across the city that have received upgrades to opposite-direction left-turn-signal infrastructure, timing and signage (like flashing yellow arrows) are seeing a 47 percent to 72 percent reduction in injury or fatal crashes involving left turns since 2022. Those types of crashes make up over 12 percent of all serious crashes outside of the freeway, so these improvements are a significant step toward reducing all traffic fatalities in Austin.

The Vision Zero program has a goal to reduce to zero the number of people hurt or killed by crashes. It implements street improvements, policy changes, enforcement and education.

Between 2019 and 2023, 171 serious injuries or fatalities were caused by crashes at unprotected left turns, where one vehicle turned left into a vehicle going straight in the opposite direction. In the report, TPW attributes the danger of these kinds of turns to “left-turning drivers’ inability to accurately judge the speed of oncoming vehicles, poor visibility, or simply driver frustration and risk-taking.” Relatively low-cost, minor improvements like increased signage and better infrastructure can make a huge difference. After Vision Zero implemented improvements at 18 locations in 2022, there was a 64 percent decrease in annual injuries and crashes. 

Those same places are now seeing sustained decreases of 47 percent this year – still improving, albeit at a slower rate than when the improvements were first installed. Now, there are 100 locations with protected left turns. Of the 73 that have collected at least three months of crash data, there has been a 72 percent decrease in injuries and fatalities when compared to the five years prior. That amounts to 37 fewer per year. Notably, all locations also saw decreases in other types of crashes, meaning protected left turns can reduce the overall riskiness of intersections, a “positive multiplier effect,” TPW writes.

Last year, Vision Zero developed standardized guidelines to evaluate every intersection in Austin for left-turn protection, considering their crash history, speed, lane configuration, multimodal activity and other factors. With more than 1,100 active traffic signals in Austin, those evaluations will take two years, but TPW emphasizes “the findings in this report support the idea that these kinds of low-cost safety countermeasures are a critical component to achieving our Vision Zero goals.”

Overall, these types of improvements are helping make Vision Zero a reality. All metrics used to measure the city’s progress – total crashes, fatalities, serious injuries and years of life lost – are down from this time last year.