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"Vision Zero" Aims To Eliminate Traffic Fatalities In San Diego

Posted by samzenpus on from the be-safe dept.

An anonymous reader writes: San Diego city officials Monday expressed support for a plan called "Vision Zero" to make San Diego's roadways safer for pedestrians and bicyclists over the next 10 years. Vision Zero aims to eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025 by improving crosswalks, raising medians, creating buffers between vehicle and bicycle lanes, and improving sidewalks. NBC 7 in San Diego reports: "Allison Street next to La Mesa City Hall provides a blueprint of sorts. Diagonal parking lines reduce the size of the street. Jim Stone, Executive Director of Circulate San Diego, says studies show smaller streets help slow traffic. Then there's the crosswalk with lights on the ground and signs that alert drivers when someone crosses. The curb extension also provides better visibility. 'They can see cars coming but more importantly the cars can see them coming,' Stone said about the curb extensions. 'So it's a great way to improve pedestrian safety.'"

4 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Seattle too by Sowelu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, we've got the same thing around Seattle, including radio ads where they ask people "how many yearly traffic fatalities do you think are acceptable" and of course people say zero. How silly. If someone is senile and doesn't look before taking a left turn...if a kid rides their bike directly into the road ignoring crosswalks...if someone is staring at their phone and walks in front of a moving bus...those are sad but they are pretty acceptable to me.

    1. Re:Seattle too by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's safety Culture. And Safety Culture never sleeps, and is never satisfied. Coupled with our increasingly reactionary nature, it's the perfect storm of hysteria.

      And some times very stupid. Regarding those 25 mph limits, sometimes they backfire. A small town near mine was trying to get control over the main route that went through it. Speed limit was 35 mph. But they had to think of the children. So they lowered it to 25. The result was more accidents, as vehicles spent longer going through town than before, and backups were common. And a child darting in front of a car can be hurt just as easily as going 35. They ended up raising the speed limit back to it's original value.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  2. Where are the round-abouts by markus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am always surprised that American cities don't learn from the rest of the world and install round-abouts instead of intersections. Many European countries have been aggressively converting their intersections to traffic circles; and they found that accident rates go down, throughput goes up, there are zero operating costs (i.e. no need for traffic lights), and often the round-about needs the same or even less space than traditional intersections.

    It takes a little bit of time for everybody to get used to the new design -- and that means both city planners, drivers, and pedestrians. But in the end the benefits are very obvious.

  3. No Vision by Sir+Realist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "provides better visibility"

    Then what idiot ad company exec came up with "Vision Zero" as the name?