San José Should Create Safer Roads Faster
On Feb. 11, the San José City Council is scheduled to vote on approving the Transportation Safety Vision Zero Action Plan including $6.8M funding for the next 18 months. SVBC supports this plan and we want to ensure that San José continues to prioritize these important safety projects. City Council needs to hear from folks who live or work in San José that they support this plan (see talking points below). Please attend the next San José City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11 starting at 1:30 pm, when the Vision Zero Action Plan is on the agenda. (Item 5.1)
In 2019, there was a new record of 29 people killed while walking, and 7 while biking. It is time for the City to take urgent and immediate action by fully funding and implementing this plan as quickly as possible.
The new Vision Zero Action Plan lays out the City’s top six Vision Zero priorities over the next 4 to 6 years.Silicon Valley Bike Coalition and Walk San José are calling on you to ask your leaders to take urgent actions towards San José’s traffic safety goals, including:
1. Increase the speed of implementation of quick build safety infrastructure on the 56 miles of the most dangerous streets in San José. from 4-6 years to 2 years to allow for safety projects along the Priority Safety Corridors (PSCs) to be completed by 2022. Quick-build projects, like the Better Bikeways network in downtown, use inexpensive materials, like plastic and paint, to create temporary or pilot infrastructure solutions to improve walking and biking safety across the City. The City estimates that quick-build projects on all 56 miles would cost only $25 million and take 4 to 6 years to complete. The proposed quick-build projects would provide near-term, tremendous safety improvements to our city streets. However, we need this done faster to address the urgency of the increasing number of fatalities on our streets.
2. Create a rapid response team to investigate and consider safety improvements at the site of every fatality involving a person walking or biking in San José including county expressways. A rapid response team should analyze the cause of the crash and the history of the location and consider a quick-build infrastructure solution to improve safety at the site of the fatality if deemed appropriate.
Join us at the February 11th City Council Meeting to urge our City’s leaders to increase the amount of funding allocated and speed up the timeline for infrastructure in the new Vision Zero Action Plan.
Here are suggested talking points for email or public comment:
Your Name, neighborhood or employment in San José, and length of time you’ve lived or worked here.
Thank Council and staff for trying to make San José a safer city by creating and funding Vision Zero efforts in the past• Let them know why you demand safer streets and how it could impact your daily life.
Urge the council members to approve the Transportation Safety Vision Zero Action Plan and its funding.
Ask for even faster implementation of the Plan by increasing the funding from $6.8M in the next two budget years to $25M to fund the entire plan.• Let the council members why increasing street safety is important to you; how these bike projects include key safety improvements addressing the need of all roadway users, including people walking, biking, and taking transit.
Thank them for listening to you.
If you can’t attend the meeting, Please send your thoughts to the council cityclerk@sanjoseca.gov and copy me john@bikesiliconvalley.org
If you’re interested in learning more about our work or getting involved with Vision Zero inSan José, please contact John Cordes, John@bikesiliconvalley.org.