Circulate launched the report with a press conference at the intersection at University Avenue and 44th Street in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. That intersection is one of San Diego’s “Fatal 15,” the name given to the fifteen deadliest intersections in the city. The location was chosen because the deadly intersection is now a construction zone as it undergoes safety improvements. The backdrop served as an apt metaphor for the substantial – but still unfinished – improvements that the city is too-slowly making.
In 2015, Circulate helped push the City of San Diego to adopt Vision Zero – committing to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2025. Since then, San Diego has made commendable strides toward improving road safety, implementing a range of measures designed to protect pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. For example, the city has begun designing roads to be safe for all users, not just drivers. It has also established a practical approach to reduce injuries and deaths even when drivers and pedestrians make inevitable mistakes.
Despite these initiatives, deaths continue to rise. Deaths in San Diego are rising more slowly than the abysmal national trend – but that is no solace to the dozens of families who lose loved ones on our streets every year.
San Diego’s new approach, while praiseworthy, has not ripened into enough fully implemented safety measures to decrease deaths – much less bring them to zero. The report recommends increasing resources and expanding efforts to reduce costs and to speed up construction. Circulate and its Vision Zero allies call on the City to implement its plans with the urgency and commitment this safety crisis demands.
Moore summed up the report’s findings, saying, “Vision Zero has been a major step forward. But by itself, a vision is not enough. When an admirable vision is only partially implemented, the good intentions behind it start to lose credibility. And worse yet, our fellow San Diegans continue to die on our streets. We can do better.”
The full report is available online at https://www.circulatesd.org/vision_zero_at_ten_years.
A downloadable copy of this Press Release is available here.
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