Title
RESOLUTION of the City of San Leandro City Council to Adopt a Vision Zero Traffic Safety Policy
Body
WHEREAS, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, each year approximately 40,000 people are killed in traffic collisions in the United States; and
WHEREAS, between 2014 and 2018, traffic collisions on streets and highways in San Leandro killed 15 people and gave life-altering injuries to 67 people; and
WHEREAS, the City Council and departmental leadership are dedicated to strategies that aim to eliminate deaths and reduce serious injuries on City streets; and
WHEREAS, seniors, children, people of color, people with disabilities, people in low-income communities, people walking, and people bicycling face a disproportionate risk of traffic injuries and fatalities; and
WHEREAS, Vision Zero is a public health-based traffic safety strategy to reduce and eventually eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries using a data-driven, multi-disciplinary, and safe systems approach that also increases healthy, sustainable, and equitable mobility for all; and
WHEREAS, if Vision Zero is the transportation safety goal, Safe System is the implementation strategy that will allow cities nationwide to affect change; and
WHEREAS, Vision Zero recognizes that while human error will always occur, a combination of engineering, education, and enforcement measures can reduce collisions and can prevent collisions from causing death or severe injuries; and
WHEREAS, the National Roadway Safety Strategy and the California Strategic Highways Safety Plan offer strategies to get to zero fatal and severe injuries through creating a safety culture and a safe system, which establishes safe speeds, safe roads, post-crash care, safe road users, and safe vehicles, and a combination of engineering, education, and enforcement measures that can reduce collisions and can prevent collisions from causing death or severe injuries; and
WHEREAS, increasing real and perceived safety for people walking and bicycling is a key step in enabling more people to choose these clean air modes of transportation that will support the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and Climate Action Plan goals; and
NOW, THEREFORE, the City of San Leandro City Council RESOLVES as follows:
That Vision Zero is the Citywide guiding principle for transportation planning, streets and sidewalks design, funding, and the maintenance of the public rights of way; and
That the City shall plan and design its transportation system with the overriding goal of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries among all system users particularly those from marginalized communities who are disproportionately affected by traffic violence and the most vulnerable travelers - people walking and biking; and
That the City Council considers safety as the highest priority when balancing competing needs and demands for space within the public right of way; and
That Vision Zero must be implemented in an equitable manner, accounting for historic inequities in transportation and safety investments.