REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Santa Clara Vision Zero Working Group Representative (He)
Report
BACKGROUND
Vision Zero is a strategy aimed at helping to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while also promoting safe, healthy, and fair mobility for everyone. It recognizes that people will sometimes make mistakes, so the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities. Vision Zero is a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together diverse and necessary stakeholders to address this complex problem.
The objective of developing and implementing a Vision Zero Plan is listed in both the City's Bicycle Plan Update and Pedestrian Master Plan. In December 2023, the City Council received the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant funding from the Federal Highway Administration to establish a Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan. The City Council approved an agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for professional services for the Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan on May 28, 2024.
The Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan (Plan) kicked off in July 2024. This effort will involve extensive community engagement and a thorough citywide safety analysis to identify the most frequent types, locations, severity, and demographics of collisions in the City. The Plan will develop a collision countermeasure toolbox, which will include programmatic measures and roadway improvements that address traffic safety issues. Additionally, the Plan will identify a priority list of potential traffic safety improvements and implementable actions to guide the City's efforts to achieving Vision Zero.
DISCUSSION
The development of the Plan will be built upon the framework of a Safe Systems approach. The U.S. Department of Transportation adopted the Safe System Approach as a guide to address roadway safety. Compared to the traditional approach, the Safe System approach...
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