San Francisco Fails to Achieve Vision Zero Pledge

“Despite a decade of work and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, San Francisco's 2014 Vision Zero initiative, aimed at eliminating traffic deaths in the city by 2024, never achieved its ambitious goal,” writes Noah Baustin in The San Francisco Standard. In 2023 so far, the city saw 25 people killed in traffic crashes—just six fewer than the number of deaths in 2014. In 2022, 39 people were killed in collisions.

Transportation advocate Luke Bornheimer told the Standard, “We have objectively failed.” The article details the city’s Vision Zero initiatives, which include bike lanes, improved pedestrian signals, and intersection ‘daylighting.’ “These initiatives all aim at a central goal: slow down traffic and prevent vehicles from colliding with pedestrians or bicyclists.”

The city is focusing on improvements on streets on its ‘high injury network.’ According to SFMTA Vision Zero Program Manager Uyen Ngo, “By the end of 2024, every remaining mile of the network is slated to receive crosswalk upgrades, pedestrian head starts before the light turns green, increased visibility around intersections, longer walk times and an advanced stop line for vehicles before the crosswalk.”