How One City Went Four Years Without a Traffic Death

Somerville, Massachusetts, has become a powerful case study in what happens when a city treats traffic deaths as preventable instead of inevitable. Through its Vision Zero approach, the city has gone four years without a traffic fatality while cutting serious crashes in half in 2025.

During this TechMobility Topics segment, we break down the practical street-design changes behind that progress: speed humps that slow traffic where people live, redesigned traffic circles, raised crosswalks, curb extensions, protected bike infrastructure, and lower speeds in pedestrian-heavy areas. These are not flashy solutions, but together they create streets that make dangerous driving harder and safer behavior more natural.

Somerville’s success is also about giving residents choices beyond the car. Better access to walking, biking, and public transit can reduce the need to drive while making streets safer for those who still do. The larger takeaway for cities everywhere is simple: safer streets are not an accident—they are a design decision.