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Committee advances Street Safety Act to full board after amendments
Summary
The committee advanced a resolution establishing an interagency, data-driven approach to reduce severe and fatal traffic crashes, adding deadlines, enforcement provisions and responsibilities for Recreation and Park staff; the committee unanimously recommended the measure as amended.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee voted Sept. 8 to forward the Street Safety Act to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation after the chair read several departmental amendments into the record and the committee voted 3-0.
The resolution, authored by Chair Mirna Melgar, calls for a preventative, interagency and data-driven strategy to end severe and fatal traffic crashes with a particular focus on children, seniors and other vulnerable road users. It assigns timebound responsibilities to multiple city agencies — including the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), Department of Public Health (SFDPH), Department of Public Works (DPW), Fire Department, Recreation and Parks Department (RPD), the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and San Francisco Unified School District — and requires public dashboards, data collection mandates and an annual hearing hosted by the Transportation Authority.
Melgar told the committee the resolution builds on the 2014 Vision Zero commitment and “moves us from piecemeal progress to a more coordinated interagency approach.” Vice Chair Cheyenne Chen and SFMTA Director Julie Kirschbaum supported the interdepartmental framework; Kirschbaum said the city departments have met to review the act and that the SFMTA will prioritize electronic enforcement, quick-build projects, the updated 2025 high-injury network and reporting on outcomes.
Dr. Susan Philip, the City's Health Officer and director of Population Health at SFDPH, told the committee the department will continue to collect, analyze and publish crash and injury data to inform the effort. The chair read amendments into the record requested by the Fire Department and Rec & Park, adding obligations such as safe loading-zone planning at parks undergoing capital improvements, integrating transportation safety education into RPD programming for children and seniors, daylighting at crosswalks where accessibility improvements are planned, and a commitment to revisit guidelines if new street design features are recommended. The chair also added a deadline provision to coordinate with SFMTA on a maximum review period of 120 days for certain actions, with exceptions for jointly-determined complex projects.
Public comment was extensive and largely supportive: speakers included SFMTA board member Fiona Henze, multiple senior residents who cited close calls and fatalities involving older pedestrians, and advocates from Streets for All, Walk San Francisco, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and San Francisco Transit Riders. One commenter, Griffin Lee of Connected SF, opposed the resolution as written and urged stronger enforcement provisions; in committee, Supervisor Bridal Mahmood highlighted enforcement language in the resolution requiring SFPD to develop a plan to increase traffic enforcement and to report monthly enforcement statistics, including the use of automated enforcement and data-driven targeted patrols by December 2026.
The committee approved two motions: first, to adopt the chair’s amendments; second, to recommend the amended resolution to the full Board of Supervisors. Both motions passed on a 3-0 vote.
