One-Year Anniversary of Vision Zero Shows Progress; Coalition Report Calls for New Urgency

Today your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, along with our partners at Walk San Francisco and the more than 35 community-based organizations of the Vision Zero Coalition, released a report on the progress the City has made in the year since its commitment to eliminate all traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2024 – as well as the actions and urgency needed in the year to come. Read the report and our top three recommendations.

We are proud of the progress made since the SF Bicycle Coalition urged City leaders to commit to Vision Zero a year ago. We are also encouraged to see the release of the City’s official Two-Year Action Strategy today, which lays out commitments from City agencies for the next two years. Still, as our report notes, much remains to be done to make life-saving changes on our streets, and City leaders must step up action in Year Two of Vision Zero.

Read the Report

When the SF Bicycle Coalition and our partners successfully advocated for Mayor Ed Lee, the SF Board of Supervisors and other City leaders to commit to Vision Zero to eliminate all traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2024, it was unclear how much traction this bold, new idea — Vision Zero — would get.

Now, one year after the anniversary of its adoption, Vision Zero has become an important part of our civic conversation and is shaping how San Francisco decisionmakers and agencies work together.  It is fundamentally changing the policies that determine how safely people can move about on our streets, whether biking, walking or driving.

We need Vision Zero to succeed for the sake of the many lives at stake. And it can succeed.

The Vision Zero Coalition report, Where San Francisco Stands in Achieving Vision Zero: Year One Progress Report,  commends the City for the commitments and progress made in 2014, most notably with: nine agencies publicly committing to Vision Zero goals and supportive actions; identifying the high-injury corridors which need on-street safety improvements; launching a public awareness traffic safety campaign; and increasing police enforcement of dangerous traffic behaviors and locations.

The report also highlights where focus is needed most in 2015 in order to end traffic violence in San Francisco. The Vision Zero Coalition is calling on the City to prioritize the following three strategies in 2015:

  1. Expedite implementation of at least 18 miles of street safety improvements on the city’s high-injury corridors, and prioritize locations in communities of concern.
  2. Advocate for a change in state laws to allow for more effective enforcement of illegal and dangerous speeding behavior.
  3. Focus enforcement on the five most dangerous traffic behaviors and locations — and ensure the SF Police Department increases the percentage of all “Focus on the Five” citations to at least 37% in 2015 and 50% in 2016.

“There’s huge public support for Vision Zero,” said Noah Budnick, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. “Now Mayor Lee and his City team need to turn this into action. The SFMTA must get proven safety improvements onto our streets as fast as they can, and the SFPD must crack down on reckless drivers who put San Franciscans at risk. There’s no time to waste to save lives.”

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and the Vision Zero Coalition stand ready to partner with and support City leaders to advance Vision Zero. And we will continue to hold the City accountable by tracking San Francisco’s progress in making our streets truly safe and welcoming for everyone.

Learn more about the SF Bicycle Coalition’s work to make Vision Zero a reality and support our life-saving work on this critically-important campaign today.

Vision-Zero-Report-Card-2015

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