Last week, the City of Philadelphia and the Northwest region lost a remarkable and committed citizen when Peter Javsicas died of injuries he sustained in a vehicular crash. It was just the sort of incident that the 76-year-old Mt. Airy resident dedicated his life to make less frequent.

As a transportation advocate who worked in the field, Javsicas was a supporter of better public transportation and better traffic safety. He was a supporter of SEPTA and the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition, to name a few of the organizations he worked with to improve transit in the city.

Following his death, those who knew Javsicas used the moment to highlight the need to move forward on stalled efforts to improve traffic safety. Philadelphia City Council president Darryl Clarke called for renewed hearings on Vision Zero, a proposed plan by local transportation advocates like Javsicas to study and improve traffic safety with a goal of reducing motor vehicle-related deaths to zero.

“We thought it would be prudent to have a series of hearings to discuss the Vision Zero that has been adopted by other municipalities,” Clarke told WHYY’s Katie Colaneri in an interview last week, “and to ultimately come up with some sort of implementation plan—it may not be called Vision Zero – but it’s clear we have to come up with something.”

A foundational principle of Vision Zero is that traffic fatalities are not the unavoidable result of accidents, but rather something preventable by better planning and legislation.

Implementing something to address traffic fatalities and injuries in the city is important. In 2016, 76 people were killed in vehicular accidents in Philadelphia. Around 250 serious injuries are caused by accidents every year. According to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, Philadelphia has a higher rate of vehicular deaths than any other major city.

Nearly everyone agrees that something needs to be done. Mayor Jim Kenney made Vision Zero a key to his 2015 campaign. He signed an executive order to study the issue and his administration drafted a plan that set a goal of zero traffic fatalities by the year 2030. That plan can be found here.

While Kenney’s administration has gotten off to  a good start on traffic safety measures, more needs to be done, and, as illustrated by Javsicas’ death, the need for those improvements is now. The intersection of 16^th Street and JFK Boulevard where the accident occurred was on the top 10 list of dangerous intersections, according to traffic data gathered by the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition. That organization has been urging the city to build bicycle lanes along JFK, not only to accommodate bike riders, but to calm traffic along the heavily traveled artery.

Clarke’s call for hearings in City Council will happen when the legislative body reconvenes after its summer break. Hopefully Council can find a way to fast-track improvements that will help prevent more fatal accidents. Every step must be taken to make city streets safer for motorists and pedestrians.

 Pete Mazzaccaro