You might have seen these ads circulating the city on all sorts of Muni vehicles lately. From our buses to our light rail vehicles, these ads are part of a campaign called “Safe Streets SF.”
A partnership of the SFMTA, SFPD, the Department of Public Health and Walk San Francisco, Safe Streets SF encourages people driving and walking in San Francisco to adopt safer habits to reduce the number of pedestrian collisions, injuries and deaths.
San Francisco has one of the highest levels of pedestrian collisions per year – the highest rate in California. Over 800 pedestrians are struck in traffic collisions in San Francisco each year. And over 50% of all traffic fatalities are pedestrians, the second highest rate in the country.
There are two key factors that are leading to this tragic, but preventable statistic:
- FAILURE TO YIELD: Motorists often do not yield to pedestrians. A “failure to yield” to people in the crosswalk accounts for 41 percent of all San Francisco pedestrian collisions
- SPEEDING: Speed is responsible for 10x the number of pedestrian injuries as driving under the influence in San Francisco. Traffic speed is the strongest predictor of whether a person is seriously injured or killed when hit by a car.
Safe Streets SF is combining marketing, enforcement, and public outreach to increase public awareness of laws related to crosswalk violations and highlights the need to change driving behavior on the streets of San Francisco. And our key message is pretty simple: Whether it is a marked or unmarked crosswalk, please give the right-of-way to people walking!
You can be a part of this culture change by taking a pledge for safer streets at www.SafeStreetsSF.org (you’ll get a free bumper or bike sticker for your pledge as well!). You can also take the pledge this weekend at Muni Heritage Weekend, where we’ll be showcasing the new campaign and educating participants about the role they can play in making San Francisco’s streets safer.
Also, be sure to follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter!