County buys fire station land, approves traffic safety plan

At its Monday meeting the Osceola County Commission approved a pair of measures they hope will enhance safety of county residents, in their homes and on the roads.

The board approved a purchase agreement for 2.92 acres on the north side of Cypress Parkway between Doverplum Avenue and the Arrington Aquatic Center for the construction of a new fire station. The total cost, incl uding closing costs, was roughly $2 million. Kissimmee entity Vista Del Sol was the seller.

The board also approved a plan to adopt the Vision Zero Action Plan, a national program that strives to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

Its vision points are that traffic deaths are preventable rather than inevitable, to prevent fatal and severe crashes rather than all collisions, integrate that humans will make mistakes into is approach, and that saving lives is not expensive.

It comes from Sweden, and its strategy is based on spending on infrastructure to decrease risk. It’s based on an ethical belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their communities, and designing roadways and vehicles and setting speeds and related policies in ways that ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities.

“The fundamental idea of this program is simple — saving lives means reducing speeds and decreasing the chance for collisions,” said Osceola Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington. “I’m excited for the next steps as we take this opportunity to analyze and improve our heavily traveled corridors that are dominated by the automobile. This is a way to look at creating practical infrastructure for walking, bicycling and transit use in the context of the Vision Zero philosophy that has proved to be effective in making transportation systems safer.”

The Central Florida region consistently ranks in the top five in terms of dangerous places to walk and bike according to Smart Grown America’s “Dangerous by Design” reports. From 2018-2021, Osceola County logged 517 pedestrian and 358 bicycle crashes, an average of more than one every two days.

As part of the county’s hands-on parts of the Vision Zero plan, it will conduct a comprehensive analysis of its traffic deaths and injuries to create an action plan, which will address traffic deaths and serious injuries through a combination of engineering, enforcement, education and evaluation.

Osceola is the first county in Florida Department of Transportation District 5 to adopt this strategy.

“The Department commends the Board of Osceola County Commissioners for this step being taking today to help eliminate fatalities in Osceola County,” said Loreen Bobo, FDOT District 5 Safety Administrator. “It is one step in many collective efforts that need to occur, but it is an important one. This plan is telling Osceola County residents, visitors, and other agencies that their lives matter and the county will do everything it can to bring fatalities on roadways to zero.”

Information from Osceola County was used in this report.