PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 29, 2025
CONTACT: Marta Lindsey, Communications Director, Walk San Francisco, (617) 833-7654 (cell), marta@walksf.org
Supervisor Melgar to introduce Street Safety Act at the Board of Supervisors TODAY
Melgar is pushing the City to recommit to and reboot its approach with Vision Zero
San Francisco – At today’s Board of Supervisors meeting, District 7 Supervisor Melgar will introduce the San Francisco Street Safety Act.
Currently, San Francisco’s Vision Zero policy has expired and the last interagency traffic safety plan is from 2021. 2024 was the deadliest year in a decade for San Francisco with traffic deaths, with 42 people dying in traffic crashes.
“Supervisor Melgar’s resolution will get San Francisco back on track with its Vision Zero commitment, and take a more aggressive approach on traffic safety,” said Marta Lindsey, communications director of Walk San Francisco.
“Traffic safety is an issue that affects all of us, every day,” said Lindsey. “The Street Safety Act has the actions and accountability needed now to prevent more tragedies. Vision Zero can be a success story – and the Street Safety Act will help get our city there.”
The Street Safety Act includes:
- Planning for and completing a suite of ‘Quick Build’ safety treatments on forthcoming newly identified high-injury and high-risk streets
- Adding ‘Complete Streets’ infrastructure improvements (like pedestrian bulb-outs, turn calming, hardened daylighting, and pedestrian safety islands) anytime a high-injury or arterial street is repaved or updated in other ways
- Replacing the Residential Traffic Calming Program with a proactive approach for adding speed humps and cushions across neighborhoods with data-driven, pre-approved design standards so these can be installed quickly
- Planning for bringing ‘hardened daylighting’ to the high-injury network (once all intersections citywide are painted), plus establishing a process for community groups or residents to enhance daylit corners
- Establishing a public dashboard updated quarterly with outcomes-based metrics to assess progress toward ending severe and fatal crashes, plus more regular updates of the high-injury network and crash data analysis
- Increasing and focusing SFPD traffic enforcement on the driving behavior most likely to result in a traffic crash, plus conducting monthly strategic enforcement operations on speeding to complement the locations and effectiveness of the speed camera program
- Prioritizing the use of automated enforcement including speed cameras and red light cameras, including pursuing more legal authority to expand the use of speed cameras
- Establishing faster review by the SFFD of street safety projects, plus streamlining approvals for specific street design and traffic calming tools on different street types to speed installation
“Supervisor Melgar is taking on traffic safety with urgency and systematically,” said Lindsey. “That’s what’s needed. Now we need every City leader to join her in making safe streets a priority – and reality.”
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
24 people were killed while walking in San Francisco in 2024, the highest number in a decade. A total of 42 people were killed in traffic crashes in San Francisco in 2024, the highest number since 2007.
In 2014, the City of San Francisco adopted Vision Zero. Vision Zero is a data-driven, preventative, and interagency approach and commitment to end severe and fatal traffic crashes.
While the City has made important progress in redesigning streets to improve safety in support of Vision Zero, severe and fatal crash numbers have yet to go down.
The past decade has also brought additional and significant challenges: increased traffic from delivery trucks and rideshare services; larger, heavier, and more powerful vehicles; and a rise in dangerous and aggressive driving behaviors.
San Francisco currently has no Vision Zero policy or plan in place. The City’s Vision Zero policy expired last year, and the last interagency action plan for Vision Zero is from 2021.
Walk San Francisco (‘Walk SF’) advocates for safe streets for everyone who walks. Since our founding in 1998, Walk SF has been leading the way to make San Francisco a pedestrian-first city where people of every age and ability can walk safely. Learn more.