Alexandria Families For Safe Streets (AFSS) brings the community together to create safe streets for all people to walk and bike, by telling the impact stories, educating the general public, and educating policymakers about policies and investments that eliminate traffic-related fatalities and injuries in our city.
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
AFSS members are crash survivors, family members of crash fatalities and concerned citizens to bring about change on our streets.
We started AFSS in August 2017 with 5 people to advocate that the City of Alexandria instill a sense of urgency in implementing a Vision Zero plan. We developed a Web Site, a Facebook page and began a Twitter presence to broaden AFSS’ base of engagement. By November 2017 AFSS collected over 1,300 signatures to urge Alexandria to “Implement Vision Zero Now” and asked the City to provide a detailed Vision Zero plan with specific due dates and assign specific accountability as to who is responsible for the different aspects of the plan.
By late 2017 the City of Alexandria published a Vision Zero plan that meet all of AFSS’ request and the City has designated AFSS as a coalition partner to help implement the Vision Zero plan in 2018 and beyond. In addition, Alexandria’s Police Department (APD) sited AFSS as the primary liaison partner in the Alexandria community to help APD in its communications effort about APD’s Vision Zero plan. AFSS is pleased to be a coalition partner with both Alexandria’s City staff as well as its Police Department regarding their respective Vision Zero plans.
In 2020 AFSS began expanding the FSS chapters to Arlington and Fairfax. We are creating an umbrella nonprofit organization called Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (NOVA FSS) with Alexandria (AFSS), Arlington (Arl FSS) and Fairfax (Ffx FSS) as its affiliated sub-chapters. Pedestrian safety on our streets is a regional, not just an Alexandria problem
For 2020 AFSS is focusing on:
- Educational programs to help facilitate behavioral change with the public as well as,
- Promote walking as the simplest, most cost-efficient way to improve a city’s economic and environmental viability.
- Help foster regulatory changes regarding traffic laws / penalties
- Hoping to coordinate with the Arlington FSS and Fairfax FSS chapters in the region to create a broader base of constituents to advocate for change