Meeting held in Macon following year with high pedestrian fatalities

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Government leaders and community members met for a discussion after Macon ranked second in the state last year in pedestrian fatalities.

During the meeting, an action plan called “Vision Zero” was introduced.

“It’s a simple concept, it means zero deaths, zero injuries on our roadways is acceptable,” Nancy White with the Macon-Bibb County Health Department said. “It’s a proven methodology that began in Sweden and cities across our country are now adopting it with success.”

Brad Belo works for Planning & Zoning and the Macon Area Transportation Study. He says an average of five pedestrian fatalities occur in Bibb County every year.

Now, the city is looking at projects to curb that number.

“It is a time consuming process because it is an expensive process,” Belo said. “But what we’re doing is putting in infrastructure, we’re putting in roads, sidewalks, crosswalks that’ll be there for decades.”

Community members raised areas that need to be made more pedestrian friendly – those areas being Gray Highway, Eisenhower Parkway and Northside Drive.

“We are learning so many ideas just through this morning summit from many different components of the solution,” White said. “This is ground zero, it’s not just vision zero. We are starting from here with a different narrative and different approach.”

Mayor Robert Reichert said towards the end of the meeting people need to be educated about proper methods for crossing the street. He’s going to start moving forward with ways to teach the public immediately.

For more information on the Vision Zero commitment, visit http://visionzeronetwork.org/.