Vision Zero

Kids crossing the street in a yellow crosswalk with a crossing guard

Photo: jeweledlion, flickr

Introduction

In 2014, San Francisco became a Vision Zero City, vowing to eliminate all traffic-related deaths through education, enforcement, and road infrastructure redesign.

The Vision Zero SF Action Strategy outlines the initiatives and actions the City will take to advance the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities. Vision Zero SF uses data-driven strategies that focus on creating safer streets, educating the public, enforcing traffic laws, and advancing transformative policies that save lives.

Funding Vision Zero Projects

The Transportation Authority plays an important role in funding street safety improvement projects through the administration of San Francisco’s half-cent sales tax, Prop AA vehicle registration fee, and Traffic Congestion Mitigation Tax funds, as well as by prioritizing federal and state funds for San Francisco projects.

The Transportation Authority provides funds for projects that range from speed humps to protected bike lanes, speed limit reduction projects to new and upgraded traffic signals. We support SFMTA's traffic calming program, which allows residents who are concerned about speeding on their block to apply for traffic calming improvements for their street. We also fund major corridor projects like the Geary Bus Rapid Transit and Better Market Street project. Street safety projects funded by the Transportation Authority can be viewed at MyStreetSF.

The Transportation Authority also funds the Vision Zero Quick-Build Program. Quick-build projects include reversible, adjustable traffic safety improvements, such as roadway and curb paint, traffic delineators, signs, traffic signal timing updates, transit boarding islands, and parking and loading changes. These projects are focused on safety improvements to the Vision Zero High Injury Network, the 12% of streets accounting for 68% of the City’s severe and fatal traffic injuries. Quick-builds allow near-term implementation of safety improvements while longer-term infrastructure improvements are designed. While the materials and methods used to install improvements make reversal possible, it is not necessarily the intent that treatments will be reversed.

We also lead planning studies in support of Vision Zero, like the SoMa Freeway Ramp Intersection Safety Studies, and support other community-based planning efforts through the Neighborhood Program.

Speed Safety Camera Pilot

In October 2023, the Governor signed AB 645. This bill authorizes, until January 1, 2032, six cities including the City and County of San Francisco to establish a Speed Safety System Pilot Program if the system meets specified requirements. The bill is fairly prescriptive and establishes authorized camera locations, speed penalties, the type of penalty (civil penalty, not moving violation), to whom penalties are issued (owner of vehicle, not driver), warning period, and metrics for continued operation after 18 months.

AB 645 requires a participating city or city and county to adopt a Speed Safety System Use Policy and a Speed Safety System Impact Report before implementing the program, and requires the participating city or city and county to engage in a public information campaign at least 30 days before implementation of the program, including information relating to when the systems would begin detecting violations, where the systems would be utilized, and where additional information about the program can be obtained. The outreach and education campaign will be developed between January and September 2024, and launched in fall 2024, prior to the installation of the speed safety cameras in early 2025.

The Transportation Authority allocated funds to support the campaign’s design and production; multilingual direct outreach around camera locations; media buys for public announcements in major media outlets; project management; and regional coordination.