Vision Zero for Redwood City

According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, Redwood City ranked 11th worst out of 105 cities of a similar size in California for bicycle safety, ninth worst for pedestrian safety, and eighth worst in overall traffic fatalities and injuries in 2014.

What’s even more concerning is a finding by Get Healthy San Mateo County that 39 percent of all serious traffic injuries and deaths occur within a 1/4 mile of a school in San Mateo County.

The good news is that great work is well underway. The City Council and city departments, the Redwood City 2020 Safe Routes to School Initiative, the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition, and Redwood City Complete Streets Advisory Committee have all made great strides in the right direction. But we have more work to do before we can claim “Mission Accomplished.”

Redwood City is in the process of adopting its Citywide Transportation Plan, a comprehensive assessment of mobility and transportation. It found that despite improvements made in recent years, Redwood City experiences over a dozen serious injuries and deaths every year — each entirely preventable. The Transportation Plan presents an opportunity to set a bold vision for a Redwood City in which we all can get around town safely using all modes of transportation.

When confronted with a challenge, Redwood City has always been a community that rolls up its sleeves and gets it solved. The first step to solving this problem is to make it a priority: Redwood City should adopt Vision Zero.

Vision Zero is an international initiative in which jurisdictions set the goal of reaching zero traffic-related fatalities or serious injuries by a target date through the “5 Es”: Evaluation and Planning, Engineering, Enforcement, Education and Encouragement. Many Bay Area cities have adopted this goal, including San Mateo, San Jose and San Francisco.

Adopting Vision Zero is not a radical departure from the positive direction of transportation planning in Redwood City; rather, it sets an important, measurable benchmark on which to evaluate transportation projects. When we prioritize safety in our transportation planning, we prioritize human lives, especially our those of our children and our seniors.

Redwood City is considering adopting Vision Zero by setting the goal of reaching zero traffic fatalities or serious injuries by 2030 as part of the Citywide Transportation Plan.

The Citywide Transportation Plan is strong, yet incomplete, without a Vision Zero goal. Concerned parties should email the City Council at council@redwoodcity.org with the subject line “Adopt Vision Zero,” with a message of why safety should always be the primary consideration in traffic planning.

We can achieve a vision for Redwood City in which we can all can get around town safely, without risking life and limb.

Jason Galisatus is the vice chair of the Redwood City Complete Streets Advisory Committee. The views expressed are his own.