Vision Zero
Daly City wants zero fatalities and serious injuries on our streets by 2035.
Let's get there together.
In April 2020 our City Council adopted a Vision Zero policy to eliminate serious and fatal traffic crashes in Daly City by 2035. They also adopted a Vision Zero Action Plan that will help us reach that goal. The Action Plan identifies 5 strategies that are statistically proven to improve roadway safety including:
• Safe Streets: Adjust roadway design to make walking, bicycling, and driving safer.
• Safe Speeds: Reduce speeds through engineering, education, policy, and enforcement.
• Safe People: Improve driver behaviors (reduce reckless, impaired, and distracted driving).
• Safe Vehicles: Advance vehicle technology, like backup and blind spot cameras.
• Post-Crash Care: Provide life-saving emergency response and trauma care.
What is Vision Zero?
Vision Zero is a national movement to reduce serious and fatal traffic crashes on our streets. Daly City is one of several communities across the United States to adopt Vision Zero policies, plans, and projects. We are proud to be the first Vision Zero community in San Mateo County. Vision Zero changes the way we think about and address traffic safety. As a Vision Zero City, we believe:
• Traffic deaths are preventable and unacceptable.
• Crashes are not “accidents”. The word accident implies that motor vehicle crashes are outside of human influence or control. In reality, these events are the predictable result of roadway designs, posted speeds, and driver behavior.
• Human life takes priority over speed and efficiency on our streets. Higher speeds cause more sever crashes, and reduce the chance of survival. Slower speeds save lives.
• Human error is inevitable – we should do everything we can to reduce the risk, severity, and frequency of crashes caused by human error.
You can learn more about the Vision Zero movement from the Vision Zero Network.
Where are Daly City’s crashes concentrated?
In Daly City, we had 35 serious and fatal crashes in 2020 and 2021 alone. These life-altering crashes are not spread evenly throughout the city – the vast majority occur on just 17% of our road system. The map below show which streets experience the highest concentration of fatal and serious crashes.
We call this our High Injury Network.
64% of all crashes and 83% of fatal or serious injury crashes occur along 17% of the City’s roadway network.
What is Daly City doing to get to Zero?
People walking or bicycling are far more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than people driving. To prevent these incidents, the City is installing infrastructure projects that can lower vehicle speeds, reduce turning conflicts, increase visibility, and create safer places for people walking, bicycling, taking transit, and using mobility devices like wheelchairs.
We are working on the following projects to improve traffic safety on our streets by 2035:
• Mission Street Streetscape Project improvements will improve pedestrian safety, slow speeds, and install placemaking/beautification along Mission Street corridor between Crocker Avenue and Templeton Avenue.
• Daly City Crosswalk Enhancements are being installed as part of the Serramonte Slurry Seal project and will install high visibility crosswalks along four major corridors on our High Injury Network: Junipero Serra Boulevard, Callan Boulevard, Gellert Boulevard and King Drive. The Serramonte Slurry Seal project also features a new separated bikeway with adjacent on-street parallel parking on Callan Boulevard between Hickey Boulevard and Wembley Drive. Parking protected bike lanes are considered a type of “low-stress bikeway” that improves the comfort level of people biking on the road. The physical separation between the bike and traffic lane provides a safe space for bikers of all levels and ages to enjoy while also providing the additional safety benefit and Vision Zero goal of reducing vehicular traffic speeds on the road. Other cities in the Bay Area, such as the City of Redwood City, City of Burlingame, City of Oakland, and the City and County of San Francisco to name a few, have successfully implemented or is in the process of implementing parking protected bike lanes in their municipality. Walk Bike Daly City!
• Daly City Safe Routes to School improvements will focus on the areas around Thomas R. Pollicita Middle, John F. Kennedy Elementary and Susan B. Anthony Elementary schools. All three campuses are located on or near East Market Street, a busy corridor that connects the eastern and western parts of Daly City.
• John Daly Boulevard/Skyline Boulevard Intersection Safety and Pedestrian Connection Projects will improve pedestrian safety and accessibility on the High Injury Network by installing sidewalks, lighting, curb ramps, a sidewalk extension, and raised pavement markers.
• The School Street and Southgate Avenue Safety Improvement Project will install high visibility striping along School Street and Southgate Avenue, both of which are part of our High Injury Network.
• Watch this space for future projects and updates!