Failed Vision Zero is Coming Back as the "Street Safety Act"
The Board of Supervisors will vote on this on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, 2pm, City Hall Room 250. Send an email today to be heard.
Vision Zero lapsed over six months ago, leaving SF without a traffic safety mandate for much of 2025 – and life has been just fine. It is unnecessary to have this policy in place and undesirable, as it has been misused to force many unwanted changes to SF Streets.
But, the BOS can't miss a chance to muck about, so Supervisor Melgar introduced the “San Francisco Street Safety Act” (aka Vision Zero 2). The measure is described as “reaffirming and expanding” SF’s core commitment to ending severe and fatal car crashes. Find the Resolution here, where you can also find numerous letters from bike and anti-car advocates supporting this "policy."
But here's the thing: Vision Zero has failed, and in fact seems to be making our streets less safe. SFMTA claims that Vision Zero has been a success, citing a 24% drop in fatalities when compaing 2013 to 2023. But these were not the Vision Zero years, these are cherry-picked years seeking to hide the truth: when we compare 2014 to 2024 (the appropriate years) Vision Zero witnesses a staggering 115% INCREASE in fatalities.
Everyone supports safety, but this measure is not aimed at safety, it is aimed at forcing people out of their cars. If safety were really the focus Supervisor Melgar and the SFMTA would be advocating for more education programs and fewer street redesigns that are actually making San Francisco streets more dangerous.
This legislation should be paused or at least amended as provided below:
Regarding Melgar’s “San Francisco Street Safety Act” -- FILE NO. 250851
Proposed Amendments
ADDITIONS TO THE RECITALS:
WHEREAS, The streets of San Francisco are used by all San Franciscans for all modes of transportation, including but not limited to, walking, scootering, bicycling, motorcycling, driving, and public transit; and
WHEREAS The use of city streets inevitably involves some unavoidable risk; and
WHEREAS All users of city streets share in the responsibility for their own safety, as well as for conducting themselves in a manner safe for themselves and others; and
WHEREAS Street design involves unavoidable tradeoffs that should balance the efficacy of the various transportation modes; and
WHEREAS All users of San Francisco streets have a legitimate expectation that their use will be facilitated, including drivers of motor vehicles, and not unreasonably impeded, complicated, or disadvantaged; and
WHEREAS More than half of the pedestrian, bicycle, and personal conveyance deaths on San Francisco streets in the last three years were preventable by the deceased by following existing traffic laws; and
WHEREAS San Francisco’s surface street traffic moved at the second slowest average speed in the country in 2024 at 14 mph; and
ADDITIONS TO THE RESOLUTIONS:
FURTHER RESOLVED, That all decisions involving street design shall be made with balanced consideration to the needs of all transportation modes; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That all street redesign projects that are significant, including but not limited to, speed limit reductions, speed hump installations, removal of a traffic lane, removal of parking spaces, and significant reconfiguration of traffic flow, shall require a cost/benefit review and report from an outside firm nationally recognized to be a non-partisan engineering expert in such matters, retained and managed by the San Francisco Controller’s office; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED That the SFMTA shall identify the core motor vehicle traffic corridors throughout the city, shall prioritize these corridors for motor vehicle traffic, and shall publish a report by December 2026 outlining prioritized projects to increase traffic throughput on these corridors with the goal of average motor vehicle speeds of no less than 5mph lower than currently posted speeds; this report and project shall be given no less prominence, time, attention, budget, and priority than the Biking and Rolling Plan, the Northstar Network, and Vision Zero (and related programs) plans, reports, and activities.
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