REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Recommend to the City Council for Adoption of the Vision Zero Plan
Report
BACKGROUND
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. It was first implemented in Sweden in 1997 when the country adopted a national transportation policy to establish a goal of eliminating fatalities or serious injuries as a result of a traffic collisions. Since 2014, Vision Zero has been building momentum in the United States. As of January 2018, 35 U.S. cities have committed to Vision Zero, including cities in Northern California such as San Francisco, San Mateo, San Jose and Fremont.
As the Vision Zero initiatives have been adopted by other cities, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) sponsored Study Issue DPW 16-01 to Develop a Vision Zero Plan (VZP). In FY 2015/16, Council approved Study Issue DPW 16-01 - Develop a Vision Zero Plan -Total Elimination of Traffic Fatalities, which subsequently became Budget Supplement No. 9 as part of the FY 2016/17 Budget to provide $150,000 in funding for the development of a VZP. The primary goal of the VZP is to develop strategies and actions that will help select programs and projects to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities in the City. Creation of this type of plan requires a holistic view of traffic safety/solutions with the assumption that fatalities are preventable, that people make mistakes, and that the transportation system should be designed to reduce the frequency and severity of the mistakes. These strategies and actions could range from programmatic initiatives, to safety improvements in roadway design, to changes in policies, to education campaigns, to providing alternatives to driving.
The VZP summarizes the City's traffic safety data from 2012 through 2017, identifies possible factors for each type of traffic collision and priority project locati...
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