Engineering Streets for Safety
More than 70 percent of severe and fatal collisions occur on just 12 percent of San Francisco streets. Vision Zero SF aims to tame streets with higher collision rates and prevent tragedy when people make mistakes. Engineering projects in support of Vision Zero incorporate effective safety improvements like protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and reduced traffic speeds. The goal is to calm traffic, enhance visibility and improve the organization of our streets.
One of the first commitments to advance Vision Zero was to complete 24 priority projects in 24 months; the City surpassed that target and completed 30 priority projects in 24 months. To maintain the momentum, a new set of priority projects have been identified although this time the list goes beyond engineering–it includes education, enforcement, evaluation and policy efforts as well.
WalkFirst
WalkFirst was a two-year public process that identified the 6% of San Francisco streets that are responsible for 60% of pedestrian collisions and developed solutions to help eliminate fatal collisions at over 170 intersections. More information available here.
Bicycle Safety Projects
The SFMTA implements bicycle safety improvements across San Francisco, helping growing numbers of people to bike safely and comfortably across the City. In 2014, the SFMTA implemented 10 miles of new and upgraded bikeways in the City. They are hard at work analyzing additional corridors and are excited to share the draft list of corridors for potential bikeway improvements for 2015 and beyond.
Speed Management
In San Francisco, speeding is the leading causes of traffic deaths and severe injuries—and lowering speeds is the single most effective tool we can use to save lives.
View the Vision Zero Speed Management Plan here.
Left Turn Traffic Calming
In 2019, 40% of traffic deaths in San Francisco were caused when drivers made left turns and didn’t see the person in the crosswalk, until it was too late.
Learn more about the comprehensive Safety—It’s Your Turn education campaign and the left turn treatments used to enhance safety at high-crash intersections here on the project webpage.
Vision Zero Quick-Build Projects
The Vision Zero Quick-Build initiative is an SFMTA effort to quickly implement pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements on the Vision Zero High Injury Network.
Learn more about quick-build projects here.
Traffic Calming
The SFMTA’s Traffic Calming Program is a resident-driven, application-based program to address mid-block speeding on residential streets in San Francisco. The program seeks to enhance neighborhood livability by reducing the adverse impacts of vehicular traffic on residential streets and creating safer and more comfortable streets for people walking, bicycling, and driving alike.
Learn more here.