As the population of the San Diego area increases, more individuals are bicycling, walking and driving on the streets. The desire to keep everyone safe with that growth is part of Vision Zero, the zero traffic deaths in San Diego by 2025. The city has worked hard to bring safety across neighborhoods in the San Diego area by repairing infrastructure, restoring services and addressing crime.

 

San Diego has seen success with this because it has one of the lowest crime rates as compared with other cities of a similar size. Five other U.S. cities are currently implementing Vision Zero. More than 50% major revenue in recent budget was being dedicated towards neighborhood repair and street improvements. Across the city of San Diego, one individual every single day is killed or seriously injured while biking, walking or driving the city streets. Traffic collisions are in fact the leading cause of accidental death for those individuals up to age 13.

 

Although fatalities among individuals driving have decreased continuously since 2005, fatalities among individuals walking have remained static or increased at the same time, outpacing population growth. Collisions, unfortunately, happen repeatedly in the same neighborhoods and across the same quarter such as El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue. These same quarters are expected to see significant growth in the next decade as well. People living in low-income neighborhoods are at the greatest risk of being struck as they face a 10 times higher likelihood of being hit by a car than people living elsewhere in San Diego.

 

Although 83% of individuals in San Diego are getting around by car and only 16% are on foot and 1% on bikes, 32% of individuals in fatal accidents are killed in cars, 53% on foot and 15% on bikes. This represents a disproportionate amount of individuals who are struck while riding a bike or as pedestrians. The Vision Zero program focuses on enforcement, education, and public outreach, and engineering safe street design.