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San Francisco leaders mark historic drop in traffic fatalities and urge fast action toward Vision Zero
Summary
City officials, including Mayor London Breed and Police Chief William Scott, and safety advocates gathered to highlight a drop to 20 traffic fatalities in 2017 and to call for accelerated street redesign, enforcement and investment to meet the Vision Zero goal.
San Francisco officials and community advocates gathered Jan. 10 to mark the city’s lowest number of traffic fatalities on record and to renew calls to accelerate programs and infrastructure to achieve the city’s Vision Zero goal.
Mayor London Breed, joined by Police Chief William Scott, public-health leaders and advocates from Walk San Francisco and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, praised a year-over-year reduction and said the progress demonstrates that engineering, education and enforcement work in tandem. "This is about bringing that number of 20 from 2017 down to 0," a city official said during the presentation.
Chief Scott noted enforcement and outreach efforts and described partnerships with the SFMTA and Department of Public Works to target high-risk corridors using data. He said the department issued more than 38,000 citations in 2017 and described traffic stops as opportunities for education as well as enforcement.
Advocacy groups and family members pressed for urgency and steady funding. Cathy DeLuca of Walk San Francisco and Brian Wiedenmeier of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition urged faster delivery of safety projects and for state authorization of automated speed enforcement. "If we increase investments and get projects into the ground more quickly, we can reach 0 by 2024," DeLuca said.
Family members who have lost loved ones made personal appeals during the meeting. Alvin Lester, whose son was killed in Hunters Point, urged officials to use proven tools and to keep families at the center of policy decisions.
Speakers emphasized a multi-pronged approach — engineering street redesigns, continuing enforcement where laws are violated, and education and outreach targeted at vulnerable groups such as seniors and low-income residents. Officials highlighted projects including Better Market Street and other corridor improvements and said speeding, failure to yield and poor infrastructure remain priorities.
City leaders said progress is fragile and requires sustained political will, funding and community engagement to ensure the decline in fatalities becomes a long-term trend rather than an anomaly.
