San Francisco's "Vision Zero" failing, more SFPD traffic enforcement needed, grand jury says
A new report released by the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury finds the city's "Vision Zero" program, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths, is falling far short of its goal.
The report, titled "Failed Vision: Revamping the Roadmap to Safer Streets", was released on Tuesday.
Implemented in 2014, the Vision Zero program sought to eliminate all traffic fatalities in the city in 10 years. A decade later, 2024 was the deadliest year on the city's roadways since 2007.
Jurors found while the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has implemented a range of measures increasing safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, the San Francisco Police Department has drastically reduced its enforcement of traffic laws since the program was implemented a decade ago.
"There's a sense of lawlessness on the city streets, due to the almost complete lack of enforcement in recent years," foreperson Michael Carboy said in a statement. "This report highlights how excessive speeding and reckless driving of a few increases risks to everyone—pedestrians, bicyclists and other people in cars."
The report found the number of traffic citations issued by SFPD dropped by 95%, from more than 120,000 in 2014 to a little over 4,000 in 2022, before increasing to 15,500 last year.
"Through numerous interviews, the Jury found that the primary reason for the stunning drop in citations is that police leadership does not prioritize traffic enforcement and does not hold officers accountable for performing what has historically been a part of an officer's day-to-day job. Over time, this lack of prioritization and accountability has metastasized into a seemingly broad acceptance within the SFPD culture that traffic enforcement is not a valued part of an officer's job. The result is the virtual abdication by SFPD of its essential role in keeping our streets safe," the report said.
The jurors also found the department has outdated technology for issuing traffic citations, leading officers to issue handwritten tickets and wasting staff time.
Jurors issued several recommendations to SFPD including urging the police chief to implement more stringent traffic enforcement and to expedite the deployment of improved technology for issuing citations and reporting crashes.
The police department is also being urged to implement a training program to educate officers about the toll of traffic collisions, the importance of enforcement and the highest-risk violations of the traffic code.
The grand jury also issued recommendations to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to improve its planning on traffic safety measures and to adopt an "area-based" approach rather than focus on individual intersections or corridors.
In addition, the jury also called for the SFMTA to develop a new street safety education campaign for all road users, which includes working with the San Francisco Unified School District on materials aimed at children.
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