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<\/a>\u201cNow is the time to invest in the improvements that will save lives,\u201d Ferrier said. \u201cWe are calling \u2014 and demanding \u2014 for money to be allocated to implement Vision Zero, especially for safe street design, and especially to protect our most vulnerable: our children, our older adults, and people walking and bicycling in our neighborhoods, especially our lower-income neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn San Diego, you should not have to cross your fingers before you cross the street,\u201d said Bob Prath, a livable communities volunteer for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).<\/p>\n
Prath noted diminishing faculties makes senior pedestrians especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cPedestrian fatality rates significantly rise by age 45,\u201d he said. \u201cBy age 75, a pedestrian is more than twice as likely as a 16- to 20-year-old of dying by being hit by a car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prath noted that \u201csome Vision Zero solutions require engineering, but many do not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s as easy as changing a traffic light’s timing, giving pedestrians a few-more-seconds start so they can be seen better in the crossway, or providing education to show neighbors how to work for safer streets,\u201d Prath said.<\/p>\n
Samantha Ollinger, executive director of Bike San Diego, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting everyday riding and advocating for bicycling infrastructure, read a long list of names of pedestrians killed in San Diego traffic accidents during the past few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very small sample of San Diegans who\u2019ve lost their lives to vehicular violence,\u201d Ollinger said. \u201cThey would be alive today if our streets were safer. But our streets aren\u2019t safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that pedestrian traffic deaths are \u201c100 percent preventable,\u201d she said, \u201cThe cost of a simple human mistake should not be paid with someone’s life. That\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only reason people continue to die on our streets is because our leaders continue to prioritize vehicle convenience over public safety,\u201d Ollinger said. \u201cThe time for half measures must end. We cannot continue to simply sit back and continue to let the lives of our family members, friends and neighbors be endangered every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ollinger said law enforcement \u201cmust take aggressive steps to curb dangerous driving. Our elected officials must become leaders and say no to prioritizing vehicle convenience. We can\u2019t afford to keep losing our loved ones to a cause that\u2019s completely avoidable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaime Leonen, 29, was killed by a car in 2015 while crossing the street with his father-in-law near Sharp Mary Birch Hospital in the 3000 block of Health Center Drive in Kearny Mesa. Leonen’s friends, Nicole Leon and Jose Miranda, spoke on his behalf at the City Hall gathering Feb. 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no safe area to cross in front of Sharp,\u201d Leon said, noting that both her children were born there. \u201cI used to pass by and only have happy memories. Now I think of Jaime, of the night he died, because there\u2019s no safe area to cross. We just want to make awareness that there is something that can be done to prevent accidents like this from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miranda read excerpts from a letter from Jaime\u2019s father: \u201cMy son was taken away too soon. I imagine holding Jaime when he was two days old and feeling the warmth of him. \u2026 My biggest hope is that he will help others to remember the men, women and children all involved in, and affected by [car] crashes. They were not statistics. They were people just like we are, with the same hopes, dreams \u2014 and very imminent fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city has experienced an alarming increase in traffic deaths, especially among pedestrians, over the past several years. The numbers increased significantly in 2015 for all modes of transportation, including people walking, bicycling, driving and motorcycling. People walking experienced the biggest increase, with 23 deaths and 54 people seriously injured, 42 percent higher than 2014.<\/p>\n
Vision Zero is supported by Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council, as well as a coalition of leading transportation, business and community-based organizations.<\/p>\n