Vision Zero in Los Angeles and San Francisco

From Curbed Los Angeles:

...Data released last month by LA’s Department of Transportation show that, in 2018, at least 240 people died in collisions.

City officials have long argued that public awareness of traffic safety issues is lacking, and permanent memorial signs (most of Gamboa’s ghost bikes are treated by the city as temporary installations) could shine a light on LA’s high rate of crash deaths.A sample memorial sign. City of Los Angeles

At a meeting of the City Council’s transportation committee last month, councilmembers Mike Bonin and Nury Martinez recommended that, to drive that message home further the city should also mount signs memorializing pedestrians killed in collisions.

But that proposal is a work in progress. Transportation general manager Seleta Reynolds told the committee that the department may need to design an alternative program for pedestrians due to the enormous number of people killed while walking each year.

“One hundred fifty pedestrians die on our streets every year; a much smaller number—15 or so—bicyclists do,” said Reynolds. “In order for us to put together a memorial program that’s respectful and on the same level...we would want to just consider what that would look like.”

Under the new program, memorials for bicyclists would be created at the request of a victim’s family members and would offer drivers a short directive (“watch your speed” or “don’t text and drive,” for instance), followed by a bicycle image and the victim’s name.

Gamboa says simplicity is effective in roadside memorials as an entry point to a larger conversation about the ways that Los Angeles’s streets are designed, and how to create an environment that’s safer for people who aren’t driving.

“The goal is to start a dialogue,” he says. “So we can start working toward real solutions to this problem.”

Rob's comment:

How are we doing in SF? Better than L.A. and more or less as you would expect, when you look at the city's numbers in this study (pages 4-7) that puts traffic deaths in San Francisco in historical context. 

But we will never get to zero---by 2024 or any other year. See Please cut the crap on Vision Zero.

How are we doing?