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<\/a>Last month, the Office of City Auditor (OCA) released the findings of a performance audit performed on San Diego\u2019s programs responsible for pedestrian safety.<\/p>\n
The report is part of a broader push by the city to make walking around San Diego more safe after its adoption of the Vision Zero initiative last October. Vision Zero is an international campaign that\u2019s goal is to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we grow and more people are walking, more crashes are happening,\u201d said Kathleen Ferrier, Circulate San Diego\u2019s director of advocacy. \u201cSo Vision Zero says these crashes are preventable and as we modernize and we grow as cities these traffic crashes and these deaths should not be acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Circulate San Diego led the effort to have San Diego adopt the Vision Zero program and also created the city\u2019s Vision Zero Task Force.<\/p>\n
The OCA report used 15 years of data from a comprehensive pedestrian crash analysis, which revealed that in dense areas of city, pedestrians were 20 times more likely to be hit by a car than other areas of the city and in low-income neighborhoods, pedestrians are 10 times more likely to be hit by a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also found that older adults and children were especially vulnerable and they were getting hit at a higher rate than other age groups,\u201d Ferrier said.<\/p>\n
The OCA report\u2019s findings also show that many of the intersections with the highest incidents of collisions have not been modernized to improve safety, while low-risk intersections have been improved.<\/p>\n
\u201cA really interesting piece of data that was in the auditor\u2019s report is how many repeat crashes are happening at so few intersections,\u201d Ferrier said.<\/p>\n
According to the report, 3 percent of intersections in San Diego \u2014 about 100 \u2014 had seen at least eight repeat crashes and some had up to 19 repeat crashes. At most of those intersections, the city had not modernized the crosswalks.<\/p>\n
Another finding pointed to a low number of traffic tickets issued by the San Diego Police Department for the kinds of violations that lead to pedestrian collisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out we weren\u2019t really enforcing on the major intersections where a lot of these things occur like coasting through an intersection or turning right on a red light without really paying attention to what\u2019s going on around you,\u201d said City Councilmember Scott Sherman, who is the chair of the audit committee. \u201cWe saw a lot of that but not a lot of enforcement on the ticketing side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sherman said the city needs to improve its priorities when it comes to where it puts its resources for intersection improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the street upgrades, you see a lot of the high-visibility crosswalks and bright lights but we weren\u2019t really tying those to high-frequency pedestrian\/vehicle interaction,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was more tied to street contracts and when they were coming up, which makes sense \u2014 it\u2019s very economical that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sherman said that with the data, the city can now take a \u201chybrid approach\u201d where resources for crosswalk improvements will go to both upcoming street contracts and dangerous intersections \u201cand try and make a difference right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other findings in the OCA report include mention that the city doesn\u2019t have a pedestrian safety educational campaign and it lacks a strategy to finance Vision Zero\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n
The OCA report offered 18 recommendations, which include using data to identify problem intersections; setting safety goals; increasing the percentage of traffic citations for violations that cause pedestrian collisions; developing an educational campaign and website; and developing a financing plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one of the discussions we\u2019ll have going forward is the whole education component as well and how much that is going to cost,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cThat\u2019s all part of budget and policy discussions \u2026 ; and being fairly new, this is all getting off the ground and getting started, but I think we all agree on the end goal, which is to try and reduce and\/or eliminate traffic pedestrian collisions here in San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrier and the Vision Zero task force members have an additional recommendation to achieve that goal.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that we absolutely want to see, that is so critical, is the release and implementation of this one-year strategy that we created with the task force,\u201d Ferrier said. \u201cWe finished a draft in June, but it has not been released. Nothing has happened with it \u2026 It\u2019s only publicly available on our website [bit.ly\/2e1c3xM<\/a>]. Even that plan falls short of what the city auditor called for.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Ferrier said that the OCA report is a good sign that the city will start using the data to make a difference in pedestrian safety.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city auditor does these audits all the time but we see this one as different,\u201d she said. \u201cBy implementing these recommendations, the city can literally save lives, that\u2019s different than improving the performance of the housing commission or the development services department or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the OCA report, including links to the entire report, visit bit.ly\/2dXcTXQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n Problem intersections in the Mission Valley area (2001-15)<\/strong><\/p>\n Linda Vista Road and Genesee Avenue \u2013 9 crashes, 8 injuries<\/p>\n Linda Vista Road and Fulton Street \u2013 8 crashes, 9 injuries<\/p>\n Linda Vista Road and Ulric Street \u2013 7 crashes, 8 injuries<\/p>\n Mission Center Road and Mission Center Court \u2013 7 crashes, 7 injuries<\/p>\n Camino Del Rio South and Texas Street \u2013 6 crashes, 6 injuries, 1 fatality<\/p>\n<\/a>