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SFPD highlights Vision 0 progress, plans eCitation pilot and expanded speed enforcement
Summary
At its Sept. 9 meeting the San Francisco Police Commission heard quarterly Vision 0 data showing fewer pedestrian fatalities year-to-date, a stepped-up focus on five primary collision factors and a plan for an eCitation smartphone pilot funded with roughly $600,000 in COIT funds.
San Francisco Police Department leaders told the Police Commission on Sept. 9 that the city is seeing early gains under its Vision 0 effort while laying groundwork for a digital citations pilot.
Commander Anne Mannix presented second-quarter 2015 traffic-enforcement data, saying 22 people were killed while walking or biking in 2014 and the city was at 15 year-to-date in 2015. The department said it is concentrating enforcement on five primary collision factors—speed, stop signs, red lights, failure to yield to pedestrians and failure to yield on turns—and on the five most dangerous corridors to reduce deaths and serious injuries. "Vision 0, which is 0 traffic fatalities by 2024," Mannix said.
The department is increasing targeted operations in school zones and senior-center areas; Captain Tim O'Bazier reported 34 total operations in the quarter and said LIDAR and other radar equipment funded by a grant will let officers expand speed enforcement into 2016. The department said the traffic company and district captains are comp-statted for traffic performance and singled out several captains for strong results.
Director Susan Merritt described an eCitation project that would let officers write citations on a smartphone and print a thermal copy from patrol vehicles, with data instantly populating the crime-data warehouse and court systems. "eCitation is the writing of a citation on a smartphone," Merritt said, describing an internal implementation that she said has COIT funding of about $600,000 with additional estimated costs for printers, back-end integration and training. Merritt told the commission the city expects a pilot by the end of the fiscal year.
Commissioners pressed for follow-up metrics and district-level breakdowns, including whether citations are yielding driver behavior change once they proceed through traffic court. The department agreed to check with the courts about citation outcomes and to include more detailed violation-by-district data in future quarterly reports.
Advocates praised the department's approach. Tyler Frisbie of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition called the quarterly increase in focus "really exciting," and Nicole Ferra of Walk San Francisco noted hospital trauma data suggesting many traffic injuries go unreported and urged continued coordination on school outreach.
The commission did not take formal policy action on Vision 0 or eCitation at the meeting; next steps identified by staff include district-level breakdowns, a courts-status report on citation outcomes and a pilot launch for eCitation.
