San Luis Obispo wants severe collisions to be a thing of the past after traffic-related accidents killed 21 people within city limits since 2019.
The death count is the highest year-over-year total since SLO rolled out its Traffic Safety Program 20 years ago, and the city is now moving forward with a 2016 City Council-approved policy called Vision Zero. SLO hopes to achieve zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 through a comprehensive Vision Zero Action Plan.
“It’s dangerous heading northeast on Madonna [Road] as you cross over the 101 entry/exit area,” read a bicyclist’s comment in the Vision Zero Community Input Map. “The bike lane markings are very faded, and the useable area is very narrow.”
“New protected bike lane in this area constrains cyclists from taking evasive action,” another commuter noted on the map. “I have nearly hit three cars now between Nipomo and [Marsh] on Higuera.”
The map is meant to guide SLO as it develops the action plan. In the first half of 2024, community members plugged in locations of transportation safety concerns, including near misses while walking, biking, or driving on city streets.
“The Vision Zero Public Input Map was developed earlier this year to help fill in the information gaps that may be missing when looking at crash data alone—both to help guide city engineering decisions, but also to help SLO Police Department enforcement priorities,” SLO Transportation Manager Luke Schwartz said. “Public input data can help identify close calls and concerns at locations that don’t currently have a crash history but may help prevent future collisions before they happen.”
Though the map is now closed to comments, people can still report actual collisions to SLOPD and share information on close calls by emailing the Public Works Department at traffic@slocity.org.
SLO residents have three opportunities to provide public comment on a draft of the action plan. They can speak at the Dec. 12 Active Transportation Committee meeting in City Hall, which will run from 6 to 8 p.m. The city is collecting online input until Jan. 15, 2025, through the Open City Hall website at communityfeedback.opengov.com/portals/sanluisobispoca/forum_home. The SLO City Council is scheduled to listen to public comments on March 18.
The draft action plan has already produced some eye-opening findings for the city, according to Schwartz.
Seventy-five percent of severe injuries and fatal collisions happen on a small number of streets that span only 10 percent of city road miles. Eighty percent of fatal collisions involved a victim who was either walking or cycling. Homeless people, who make up 1 percent of SLO’s population, are overrepresented in fatal traffic collisions. Forty percent of such accidents involve unhoused citizens.
One of the highest priorities recommended in the action plan is to focus on engineering, enforcement, and education efforts on measures that reduce illegal speeding, as well as reducing speed limits on high-speed roadways with high rates of severe crashes.
SLO has seen a glimmer of success. The city’s two decade-old Traffic Safety Program resulted in an almost 70 percent drop in total collisions. When adjusted for travel mode use, SLO is below the national and state averages for per capita pedestrian and bicycle traffic deaths.
“When we look at the number of fatal traffic crashes in SLO based on population, SLO ranks about 40 percent below the state and national averages,” Schwartz said. “While it is better to rank below the state and national averages, even one death on our streets is a huge concern and should not be accepted as the status quo.” Δ
This article appears in Dec 12-22, 2024.
