Mayor Lee Launches Large Vehicle Training Program to Increase Street Safety
New Safety Training Program as Component of City’s Action Strategy to Achieve Vision Zero
Mayor Edwin M. Lee joined by District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, the California Trucking Association, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), and San Francisco Public Works, announced a Two-Year Vision Zero Action Strategy to help the City meet its goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities by 2024. The Mayor also launched a new large vehicle safety training program, designed for professional drivers, to increase safety on San Francisco streets.
“The Vision Zero Action Strategy will guide our work over the next two years to ensure that our City’s streets are safe for all those who travel on them,” said Mayor Lee. “By partnering with professional drivers to raise awareness of safety issues specific to navigating our City, we are taking another step forward in our Vision Zero efforts to eliminate all traffic fatalities in San Francisco by 2024.”
In 2014, the City and County of San Francisco adopted Vision Zero as a policy, committing to build safer streets, educate the public on traffic safety, enforce traffic laws, and adopt policy changes that save lives. The new large vehicle safety training program is one component of the City’s new Two-Year Vision Zero Action Strategy, which outlines the projects and policy changes the City will pursue in the next two years to increase traffic safety on San Francisco’s streets. The Action Strategy encompasses a range of solution to address street safety through engineering, education, enforcement, evaluation and policy. For more information on the Vision Zero Action Strategy, go to: visionzerosf.org.
“The Large Vehicle Safety Training demonstrates the City’s commitment to achieve Vision Zero first,” said Supervisor Kim, who sponsored the Vision Zero Policy at the Board of Supervisors last year. “I represent the neighborhoods with the top concentration of high injury corridors in the City, which are further impacted by heavy construction activity. This is a step toward acknowledging that growing our neighborhoods does not have to come at the cost of pedestrian and bicyclist safety.”
“Every type of use on our streets is increasing – cars, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians,” said District 3 Supervisor Julie Christensen who represents neighborhoods with a large concentration of high injury corridors in the City. “Professional drivers who make their livings on our streets every day can play a key role in reducing collisions, especially fatal collisions, on our City streets. This is a program everyone will benefit from.”
The new large vehicle safety training program is a video-based curriculum designed to increase professional driver awareness of the safety issues related to driving a large vehicle on urban streets with high numbers of people walking and biking. The curriculum and program are one recommendation of a large vehicle working group comprised of large vehicle operators, private fleet owners, shuttle operators, statewide trucking organizations and various government agencies in the Bay Area region, who have been working in public private partnership with the City for the past year.
“The California Trucking Association applauds the City of San Francisco for their leadership in encouraging increased safety awareness around trucks for bicyclists and pedestrians,” said California Trucking Association 2015 President Dick Coyle. “Our organization has been a longtime advocate for street safety and we look forward to working with all our private and public partners to mainstream this program.”
A new SFMTA trial program was also announced by Mayor Lee, kickstarting the large vehicle training program by requiring that all new SFMTA contracts involving large vehicles require that the drivers have completed the City’s new large vehicle training program.
“Large vehicle collisions with people who are walking and biking are low frequency, but high-severity. In a five-year period, large vehicles represented only 4 percent of all collisions, but accounted for 17 percent of all bicycle and pedestrian deaths,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin. “We thank our SFMTA vendors who will be among the first operators to complete this new training program and look forward to working with large vehicle operators citywide to mainstream this initiative in support of Vision Zero.”
The unveiling of the Vision Zero Action Strategy and new large vehicle safety training program comes on the heels of a campaign launched by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. In January 2015, Secretary Foxx announced a nationwide Mayor’s Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets, challenging mayors and local elected officials to take significant action to improve safety for people walking and biking of all ages and abilities over the next year. Mayor Lee has signed onto the challenge put forth by the Transportation Secretary, a former Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, go to: http://www.dot.gov/mayors-challenge.
“The Vision Zero Action Strategy will guide our work over the next two years to ensure that our City’s streets are safe for all those who travel on them,” said Mayor Lee. “By partnering with professional drivers to raise awareness of safety issues specific to navigating our City, we are taking another step forward in our Vision Zero efforts to eliminate all traffic fatalities in San Francisco by 2024.”
In 2014, the City and County of San Francisco adopted Vision Zero as a policy, committing to build safer streets, educate the public on traffic safety, enforce traffic laws, and adopt policy changes that save lives. The new large vehicle safety training program is one component of the City’s new Two-Year Vision Zero Action Strategy, which outlines the projects and policy changes the City will pursue in the next two years to increase traffic safety on San Francisco’s streets. The Action Strategy encompasses a range of solution to address street safety through engineering, education, enforcement, evaluation and policy. For more information on the Vision Zero Action Strategy, go to: visionzerosf.org.
“The Large Vehicle Safety Training demonstrates the City’s commitment to achieve Vision Zero first,” said Supervisor Kim, who sponsored the Vision Zero Policy at the Board of Supervisors last year. “I represent the neighborhoods with the top concentration of high injury corridors in the City, which are further impacted by heavy construction activity. This is a step toward acknowledging that growing our neighborhoods does not have to come at the cost of pedestrian and bicyclist safety.”
“Every type of use on our streets is increasing – cars, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians,” said District 3 Supervisor Julie Christensen who represents neighborhoods with a large concentration of high injury corridors in the City. “Professional drivers who make their livings on our streets every day can play a key role in reducing collisions, especially fatal collisions, on our City streets. This is a program everyone will benefit from.”
The new large vehicle safety training program is a video-based curriculum designed to increase professional driver awareness of the safety issues related to driving a large vehicle on urban streets with high numbers of people walking and biking. The curriculum and program are one recommendation of a large vehicle working group comprised of large vehicle operators, private fleet owners, shuttle operators, statewide trucking organizations and various government agencies in the Bay Area region, who have been working in public private partnership with the City for the past year.
“The California Trucking Association applauds the City of San Francisco for their leadership in encouraging increased safety awareness around trucks for bicyclists and pedestrians,” said California Trucking Association 2015 President Dick Coyle. “Our organization has been a longtime advocate for street safety and we look forward to working with all our private and public partners to mainstream this program.”
A new SFMTA trial program was also announced by Mayor Lee, kickstarting the large vehicle training program by requiring that all new SFMTA contracts involving large vehicles require that the drivers have completed the City’s new large vehicle training program.
“Large vehicle collisions with people who are walking and biking are low frequency, but high-severity. In a five-year period, large vehicles represented only 4 percent of all collisions, but accounted for 17 percent of all bicycle and pedestrian deaths,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin. “We thank our SFMTA vendors who will be among the first operators to complete this new training program and look forward to working with large vehicle operators citywide to mainstream this initiative in support of Vision Zero.”
The unveiling of the Vision Zero Action Strategy and new large vehicle safety training program comes on the heels of a campaign launched by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. In January 2015, Secretary Foxx announced a nationwide Mayor’s Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets, challenging mayors and local elected officials to take significant action to improve safety for people walking and biking of all ages and abilities over the next year. Mayor Lee has signed onto the challenge put forth by the Transportation Secretary, a former Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, go to: http://www.dot.gov/mayors-challenge.