Since failing last year to reach a goal of achieving zero traffic fatalities in San Francisco, advocates for pedestrian safety are demanding that city officials adopt a new plan with a renewed commitment to street safety.
So far this year, there have been six pedestrians killed in traffic crashes this year, including most recently a 47-year-old who was killed in a hit-and-run crash at Bayshore Boulevard and Jerrold Avenue. Five of the six people killed this year in traffic crashes were seniors. On the steps were 10 pairs of shoes that represented each person so far killed this year on city streets in traffic crashes.
“We are standing here today to note that it has already been 139 days since the city’s Vision Zero policy has expired,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco. “There’s no policy or plan for our city agencies to coordinate and act.”
Advocates delivered a letter to Lurie that he adopt a new Vision Zero policy by July 30 and to have a traffic safety plan in place by Sept. 30, coordinating with city agencies.
Of the recorded 42 traffic-related deaths 24 were pedestrians.
The city adopted Vision Zero in 2014 and has seen mixed progress year to year. Last year, the city recorded 42 traffic-related deaths. Of those traffic deaths, 24 were pedestrians, according to city data.
Over the last 10 years, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has been using “quick-build” tools to improve traffic safety, including but not limited to daylighting intersections (now a state law), shortening crosswalks and changing the timing of traffic signals. The SFMTA said they have completed quick-build projects in 39 corridors and have used some of the tools at more than 900 intersections on the city’s high-injury network — corridors known to the city as where there are high concentrations of severe traffic crashes and fatalities.
The city also has a new tool at its disposal in the form of automated speed cameras that ticket drivers who drive 11 or more miles per hour over the posted speed limit. San Francisco was the first city in the state to activate some of the cameras in March as part of a pilot program under Assembly Bill 645.
Despite issuing thousands of warning notices over the first month in operation, the agency is still waiting to turn on all the cameras so that it can begin a formal 60-day warning notice period. Following the 60-day warning period, the agency can then start issuing fines. KQED News reported that the delay in activating all the cameras stems from a permitting process with PG&E.
At City Hall, Supervisor Myrna Melgar held a hearing at the board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee to discuss a report from the Budget Legislative Analyst on the cost of the traffic crashes to the people involved in crashes and to the city.
“I know that public safety is a priority for our mayor, for us here on the Board of Supervisors, and most importantly for the residents of San Francisco,” Melgar said.
