Helping Cities Reduce Traffic Injuries and Deaths

Traffic fatalities and injuries are preventable, but does the public see them that way? To help the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in its goal to improve traffic safety and promote equitable mobility, PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) examined public discourse on the issue and identified framing challenges and opportunities in the campaign for Vision Zero—an international movement rooted in collaboration across sectors to eliminate traffic-related deaths and severe injuries, and to ensure safe, equitable mobility for everybody.

This project, with support from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and in partnership with MIG Communications and InterEthnica, analyzed how the news media portray vehicle crashes and other safety issues. Drawing insights from this analysis, BMSG created a framing brief to help Vision Zero stakeholders frame traffic safety in the context of public health, and also collaborated with the Vision Zero Network to produce two case studies showcasing how other communities have communicated effectively and strategically about policies that foster safe, equitable mobility.