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City Council to Vote on Adopting Goal of Zero Traffic Deaths
Contacts:
Kathleen Ferrier, Circulate San Diego, 619-571-5231, [email protected]
Gina Jacobs, Office of Councilman Mark Kersey, 619-236-6546, [email protected]
City Council to Vote on Adopting Goal of Zero Traffic DeathsSan Diego, California (October 27, 2015) –San Diego’s City Council will vote on Tuesday, October 27 whether to adopt a resolution called Vision Zero that aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2025 in the City. San Diego Councilmembers, members of the Vision Zero coalition, and victims of traffic collisions will gather at noon to acknowledge this important decision.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 27, 12:00 noon
WHERE: Civic Plaza, 202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101
WHAT: Council to vote on adopting resolution to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in San Diego by 2025
WHO:
San Diego City Councilmember Mark Kersey
San Diego Council President Pro Tem Marti Emerald
El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, Polly Gillette, Boardmember
Rady Children’s Hospital, Mary Beth Moran, Injury Prevention Manager
Carol Lord, Traffic Collision VictimWHY: The City has experienced an alarming increase in traffic deaths, especially among pedestrians, over the past several years. Traffic collisions now claim twice as many lives in San Diego as homicides.
The City’s Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved a Vision Zero Resolution last month, and the City Council is now set for a vote Tuesday October 27, 10 am. If approved, the Council will adopt a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries in San Diego by 2025. Initial steps will be to form a Vision Zero Task Force and create an action plan for reaching the goal of zero traffic deaths.
“Implementing the Vision Zero framework, in coordination with the City’s Pedestrian Master Plan and Bicycle Master Plan, is essential to ensuring our streets, sidewalks, and bike lanes are as safe as possible,” said Councilmember Mark Kersey .
The motion to adopt a Vision Zero resolution comes not one moment too early in San Diego. Traffic collisions have been on the rise since 2012 and the number of traffic deaths each year is twice the rate of homicides.
For the numerous organizations supporting the campaign, Vision Zero represents a coherent effort to highlight many street improvement projects they have advocated for over several years.
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Vision Zero
Zero traffic deaths in San Diego
- Learn about our Crash Not Accident campaign.
- Read our groundbreaking report on Vision Zero in San Diego (2015).
- Read our sub-regional report on Vision Zero in South County (2019).
- Read our sub-regional report on Vision Zero in East County (2019).
- Read our sub-regional report on Vision Zero in North County (2019).
- Read our 5 year update, "Hope for Vision Zero" for Vision Zero in San Diego (2021).
- Read our 10 year update, Vision Zero at Ten Years (2024).
Our streets should be safe, no matter where we go or how we get there.
On average, one person is injured every day in San Diego while driving, walking or bicycling. Traffic violence is now on par and exceeding the homicide rate in San Diego, and traffic collisions are the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 0 to 13 in the City. In 2016, 2,155 were injured and 107 people were killed walking and biking on our roads in San Diego County.
The Solution
Vision Zero is a data-driven approach to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries on our roadways, within a specific time frame, by increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility.
Vision Zero strategies focus on:
- Reducing speed limits and prioritizing the most vulnerable road users
- Redesigning streets to make them accessible for people of all ages and abilities
- Raising awareness and providing education about unsafe behaviors on the road
No loss of life is acceptable.
Vision Zero will prevent injuries and save lives.Growing List of Supporters
Circulate is fortunate to have the support of the following organizations for Vision Zero:
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#VisionZero Bike Ride: Imperial Avenue
On Friday evening, a group of 30 San Diegans enthusiastic about the need for safe streets came together for Circulate San Diego's first #VisionZero bike ride. In one trip, this bike ride showed us the good and the bad on San Diego's streets and focused on the Vision Zero corridors. We were joined by two bike police officers from the San Diego Police Department. They made sure that the riders were safe biking along busy streets. Circulate is thankful for the support that SDPD has shown for Vision Zero in San Diego!
Read more -
Twelve Too Many: The Toll of Unsafe Streets in San Diego, 2015
On Wednesday, San Diego's 12th pedestrian was killed in 2015, the 2nd in four days. We know very little about this most recent victim, a woman who died after a Nissan Altima collided with her at an intersection on Ingraham Street around 9:30pm in Mission Bay Park. Two days earlier, San Diego's 11th pedestrian fatality occurred in front of the Convention Center downtown, this time a woman between 40 and 50 years old. The driver of a small silver Ford traveling westbound on Harbor Drive hit her and fled the scene; the suspect is still on the loose.
Collisions Involving Bicyclists and Pedestrians Resulting in an Injury (San Diego Police Department, June 2015)
Injuries on the Rise
Recent data from the Police Department shows that collisions for people walking and biking in the City have increased almost 30%. Collisions resulting in injury have increase 32%.These deaths and injuries are preventable. In June, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Mayor Pro Tem Marti Emerald, Councilmember Mark Kersey, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, and others announced their support for Vision Zero. At the heart of Vision Zero is the belief that death and injury on city streets is unacceptable, and more importantly, is preventable.
The support of San Diego's civic leaders is an important first step: this work could not be done without the leadership and support that Mayor Faulconer and Councilmembers Emerald, Kersey, and others have shown. However, without action their support will not stop the daily carnage on our streets.
As detailed in our Vision Zero white paper, one person is seriously injured or killed while walking, biking, or driving in the City of San Diego. That means on average, 25 people have died or been seriously injured getting from point A to B in San Diego since our leadership voiced their support for ending all traffic deaths.
Next Steps
After an August recess, the City's Infrastructure Committee will review a Vision Zero resolution in their September meeting. The resolution will recognize the problem of traffic deaths and form an advisory committee to create a strategy to eliminate traffic deaths in 10 years. Getting the resolution passed from the Infrastructure Committee to the City Council is the crucial next step to make Vision Zero a reality.
