Ali Kleyman was awarded a full scholarship to attend the 2024 US Vision Zero Academy in Washington, DC. She was one of only 35 professionals selected, which included planners, engineers, and advocates. Johns Hopkins University offered this unique opportunity in partnership with the Swedish Transport Administration, the founders of the global Vision Zero movement.

In addition to five days of intensive lectures on Vision Zero principles and theory, Ali participated in a walking tour of DC, featuring a visit to the Swedish Embassy to discuss safe vehicle technologies.

It was really interesting to hear from places like Sweden and San Francisco that have both been successful at making significant strides implementing Vision Zero and yet still deal with certain types of crashes–namely single vehicle or single bicyclist crashes. It really drove home the point that Vision Zero and transportation safety are extremely complex issues.

With this experience, Ali is well-positioned to focus on our region’s Vision Zero Action Plan. She stated she’d like to “include policies around vehicle design and automated enforcement, innovations in data collection and data sharing, and new tools that can help us understand and analyze the infrastructure and policy causes of crashes.” She highlighted the importance of including various actions and interventions beyond street redesign.

Reach out to Ali to learn more about her experience at the Vision Zero Academy, and how it’s informing our Vision Zero Action Plan.