City of San Diego is committed o
keeping people on the roads ali,
including cyclists and pedestri,
with a plan called Vision 0.
But already this year,
23 people have been killed in traffic
related incidents in the city.
CBS Eight's Brian White is workg
for you to see if the safety
plan is making a difference.
Vision 0 is the concept that
traffic related fatalities,
whether you're in a car
or in a bike or on foot,
are preventable through the waye
design our roads and intersecti.
And for those who've lost loved
ones in this way,
the pain is indescribable. He
was one of the most passionate,
full of life people I've ever met, Laura
Keenan, reminiscing about
her husband Matthew,
and avid cyclist who was killed
more than a year ago at the age
of 42 while riding his bike
at night in Mission Valley.
Yeah, I remember him saying,
OK, bye, I'll see you later.
And I looked up and said OK bye.
And that was the last
time I ever saw him alive.
The next morning, Laura received
a call that would change her li.
Was the medical examiner's offie
with news of Matt's death.
I didn't know a pain like this existed until
he was killed. Like pain
is not the right word,
Laura says daytoday. Life has bn
extremely hard being a single
parent raising their son Evan,
who's almost three now.
But she's turned her pain
into advocacy. Those moments were the
worst moments of my life, and I never want.
Anybody to have to experience that pain. She
formed a local chapter of the
nonprofit Families for Safe Strs
San Diego and has been advocating for
Vision 0 improvements ever sinc.
No loss of life is acceptable.
Every loss of life is a
tragedy. Calling parent
is CEO and general counsel
for Circulate San Diego.
They've been a huge catalyst for change.
We're starting to see some prog,
but it's also true that we're we're not
anywhere close to where we need to be.
San Diego adopted Vision Zero in
2015 with the goal of bringing
traffic deaths to 0 by 2025.
But so far there's cause for con
as fatalities are on a sharp ri.
We saw a low of 33 total deaths in 2017,
but we've more than doubled than
each of the past couple of years, with
69 people dying last year.
We have to do more.
Jared Wilson is president of th.
San Diego Police Officers Association
And he says over the past five years,
traffic enforcement has been cut
in half due to low staffing and
high turnover of police officer.
We know that we've seen officer
on the street who's out conductg
traffic enforcement people slow down,
people make those full and
complete stops and stop signs,
he says. In order for Vision Zeo
really succeed, traffic enforcet
needs to be a key component.
I know no one likes to get a trc
ticket and no one likes being
pulled over and warned not to d,
but it does save lives.
This intersection at University and 52nd St.
in City Heights was identified as one
of the most dangerous intersects
by Circulate San Diego in 2018.
And since then the city's
made vast improvements here.
So what we have here is these,
these continental crosswalks.
They have these big, bold white lines,
and as we're walking across,
you can see that there's a countdown timer,
and that's giving us an indication about
how much time we have. Left acr,
other safety measures around the
city include flashing beacons at
crosswalks and no right turn.
Blank Out signs alerting drivers when
people are crossing the street d
roundabouts have been effectivet
slowing traffic at intersections that
keeps speeds low.
And whenever there is a crash,
they're typically low speed.
They're typically at softer angs
rather than T-bone crashes.
Everett Hauser with the city's
transportation department tells me they
took an unconventional approachh
this new roundabout on Morley Field Dr.
using prefabricated materials.
Installation only took about two weeks,
when normally he would take many years.
People's lives are on the line, so we work
to make those corrections every
day so it doesn't happen again.
The city's new ten person Quick Build
stat team began working last year to.
Element Quicker upgrades with ct
effective materials like these flexible
bollards used for separated bike lanes.
Let's not take 10 years to desin
some improvement for our street.
Let's do something quick, easy,
affordable. Let's do it today. e
2015, the City is invested $203 million
in Vision Zero projects, with ny
29 million this fiscal year alo.
We also have to be reminded that the the.
The job is not done that there still are
people who are getting hurt on our streets.
The streets aren't as safe as
people want them to be. Well,
next year's proposed budget fun,
A number of Vision Zero
related projects circulate.
San Diego and their coalition
partners say it's not enough.
They've been asking for
specific improvements that so
far have not been addressed.
It feels personal.
I know it's not personal.
My Matt deserves better.
You know, like his life is important,
as is everybody else's life.
Who's been killed in traffic collisions in
San Diego? Brian White, CBSA.