Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued an Executive Directive that charges all City departments to improve traffic safety on San Francisco streets and the citywide bicycle network. This new directive bolsters San Francisco’s commitment to Vision Zero, which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024. 

“Recently, we have had tragedies on our streets as a result of criminal behavior on behalf of motorists,” said Mayor Lee. “While we cannot control the criminal behavior of a few, we can make our streets safer through engineering, education and enforcement. I am directing City departments to accelerate our Vision Zero goal immediately.”

Mayor Lee’s Executive Directive orders all City departments to improve City streets and the citywide bike network with a key focus on a number of areas, including:

• SFMTA to deliver near­-term safety improvements on 7th and 8th Streets in the next nine months;
• The SF Recreation and Parks Department (SF Rec and Park) and SFMTA to deliver near­-term safety improvements to reduce speeds and vehicular through­ traffic on JFK Drive in the next six months;
• The SF Rec and Park and the SFMTA to initiate study of expanded traffic calming and traffic restrictions in Golden Gate Park within the next three months;
• Commit to continue advocacy to win Automated Speed Enforcement legislation at the state level.
• The San Francisco Police Department to meet its Focus on the Five goals and continue quarterly public reports and presentations at the Police Commission; 
• The SFMTA to begin implementing a comprehensive Vision Zero awareness campaign within the next 30 days to ensure the widespread public knowledge and significant increased awareness of Vision Zero;
• Implement proven safety features on the City fleet and contracted vehicles, including the installation of telematics on all authorized City vehicles by January 2017.
• City departments will be responsible to track and report progress on the above actions, with reports to be submitted quarterly to the Mayor’s office through the SFMTA. They will be shared publicly at regular meetings of the Vision Zero Task Force, SFMTA Board of Directors, and SF County Transportation Authority’s Vision Zero Committee meetings.

“There is nothing that can bring back the lives of two people who died biking in San Francisco on June 22nd. We still feel their losses and can only imagine what their family and friends have gone through,” said SF Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Brian Wiedenmeier. “The Mayor’s Executive Directive to improve the state of biking where those collisions took place, and on high-injury corridors across San Francisco, is a bold commitment demonstrating the City's resolve to eliminate traffic deaths.”

“Every 18 hours in San Francisco, someone is killed or seriously injured on our streets. And low-income communities, communities of color, seniors and people with disabilities are twice as likely as others to suffer that fate.” said Walk San Francisco Executive Director Nicole Ferrara. “Under Vision Zero, the City has yet to achieve reductions in serious and fatal injuries; this Executive Directive is exactly the leadership needed to send a strong message to City agencies that Vision Zero is the utmost priority for this administration, and as such the City must go farther and work faster to build a safe transportation system.”

The Executive Directive takes effect immediately.

In February 2014, the SFMTA committed to delivering 24 street safety projects in 24 months. That goal was reached three months ahead of schedule and six additional projects were completed by the original February 2016 deadline. Last year, the City implemented 20.2 miles of safety treatments on the High-Injury Network and at least 1,599 safety treatments were implemented on the streets. These treatments range from bulbouts, refuge islands and pedestrian countdown signals, as well as major corridor projects such as Safer Market Street that reduced private car traffic between 3rd and 8th streets.

More than 41,000 citations were issued for “Focus on the Five” violations. These violations, which often result in traffic deaths and serious injuries, include: running red lights, running stop signs, violating pedestrian right of way, speeding, and failure to yield while turning.

Reminding everyone that traffic safety is the responsibility of all street users, the City launched the award-winning educational and enforcement campaign “It Stops Here” that resulted in more drivers yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

In addition to Mayor Lee, the Board of Supervisors and twelve San Francisco agencies have commit­ted to Vision Zero, including an action strategy to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024.

A comprehensive report on the State of Vision Zero is available at www.visionzerosf.org.