San Diego pledged to end pedestrian traffic deaths. They've only increased.
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Ten years ago, San Diego committed to eliminating pedestrian, cyclist and other non-motorist traffic deaths by 2025. Since then, those traffic deaths have increased.
The big picture: Nationwide, pedestrian deaths per mile driven have increased, as crashes have become more likely to be deadly, and San Diego has been no different, mobility advocacy group Circulate San Diego found in a report released Tuesday.
- "San Diego stands in a worse position today than 10 years ago," author Will Moore said Tuesday during a press conference.
By the numbers: In 2015, San Diego joined the nationwide "Vision Zero" movement, committing to make transportation policy changes to eliminate non-motorist traffic deaths within a decade.
- A year earlier, 25 non-motorists died on San Diego streets. The city's annual total has been below that number only twice since and has been above 35 for three straight years.
- In 2010, four pedestrians were killed nationwide for every 100 injured in a crash. By 2022, that doubled to eight.
State of play: Circulate praised the city's "Complete Streets" program, which builds transit-, pedestrian- and bike-friendly corridors with slower driving speeds, but recommended increased urgency.
- It said the city needed to "dramatically" increase spending on safe street concepts.
- The group called for the city to look into speed cameras and red-light and bus-mounted cameras to increase traffic enforcement.
- It also urged the city to streamline its construction process so projects are cheaper and don't take so long.
Flashback: Former Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a Republican, embraced Vision Zero in 2015, and a bipartisan city council, including then Council Member Todd Gloria, approved it unanimously, generating national attention for their ambitious commitment.
What they're saying: Making bold promises years into the future does not have a successful track record, Moore told Axios.
- "The climate action plan did not get us better climate results," he said, citing the city's pledge to slash its emissions, also from 2015. "Vision Zero did give us good planning, but it didn't get us a commitment of resources. … When you have a plan to do something, it gives a political incentive to just declare victory."
Yes, but: He said advocates need to shift from crediting commitments to crediting results.
- "When we make these great plans and things get worse, people lose faith in our good intentions."
What's next: Circulate and Families for Safe Streets San Diego are co-hosting a vigil for victims of traffic violence at Birney Elementary on Sunday, Nov. 17, for "World Day of Remembrance"