Title
Update on Vision Zero Action Plan Development and Crash Data Analysis
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Transportation Commission
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (“City”) is preparing a Vision Zero Action Plan (“Action Plan”) to reduce severe injury and fatal crashes, and help the City achieve its goal of zero severe or fatal crashes. As required by the Vision Zero policy that the City Council (“Council”) adopted in late 2019, a multidisciplinary Vision Zero Task Force comprised of community members and staff is helping guide development of the Action Plan. Staff expect to release this plan for public review in July 2021; seek Transportation Commission approval in September; and seek Council adoption by the end of the year.
The Action Plan will be informed by an analysis of 2009-2018 crash data, which delineated Alameda’s High Injury Corridors, the behaviors most associated with severe and fatal crashes, the street and location types associated with injury crashes, and more. Even while planning is underway, the City is already undertaking a number of street safety efforts, such as major street safety capital projects, Slow Streets, the High Injury Corridor Daylighting Project, and public communications about Vision Zero.
This informational agenda item is intended to provide a progress update to the Transportation Commission in advance of the Action Plan public engagement period, as well as share the crash data analysis findings. No action is needed.
BACKGROUND
In November 2019, the City Council adopted a Vision Zero policy that set a goal to reduce and eventually eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries, and made safety the highest priority in transportation efforts. The Transportation Commission reviewed this policy prior to adoption. The policy requires the City to convene a multidisciplinary Vision Zero Task Force to guide the development of an Action Plan. It calls for the Action Plan to be data-driven, implemented equitably, and include action items that will reduce severe and fatal crashes and enable the City to reach its Vision Zero goal. In July 2019, as part of the Active Transportation Plan consultant contract, the City began working with Toole Design to write the policy and prepare for Action Plan development.
DISCUSSION
Vision Zero Action Plan Development
The Vision Zero Action Plan, which the City plans to release for public review in July 2021, will include specific actions aimed at reducing traffic deaths and severe injuries in Alameda. The City intends to update the Action Plan once every five years. The body of the Action Plan will include the following:
• Background on the Vision Zero approach
• Plan goals
• Crash data analysis summary and maps
• 50+ specific actions to increase traffic safety
• Performance measures
• Existing City efforts to increase street safety
• Important terms
• Acknowledgements and Vision Zero Task Force members list
The appendix will include:
• The Vision Zero policy
• High Injury Corridor maps
• Community-reported near-miss maps
• Vision Zero capital projects list (a subset of the Capital Improvement Plan)
• Detailed crash data analysis
• Table to track progress on actions
With guidance from the Vision Zero Task Force (“Task Force”), City and Toole Design staff have completed drafts of all items listed above. The table of 50+ actions has also undergone internal review with staff from Public Works, Transportation Planning, Police, Fire, Human Resources, and the City Manager’s Office. The community-reported near-miss maps were developed as part of the Active Transportation Plan.
The actions are aimed at achieving the following core goals developed by the Task Force:
1. Ensure that the Vision Zero Policy and Action Plan are implemented equitably and fairly for all people.
2. Create an institutional commitment to Vision Zero throughout City government.
3. Foster community support and responsibility for the safety of people traveling within Alameda.
4. Reduce motor vehicle speeds and decrease collisions between people driving, riding a motorcycle, biking, walking, or wheeling.
5. Improve the use, collection, and organization of data to allow for evaluation and reporting that fosters transparency and creates trust with all stakeholders and residents.
Staff members are currently developing a public engagement plan that will outline the timeline and strategies for seeking feedback from the public, including reaching underserved communities.
Vision Zero Task Force
Staff convened the Task Force in December 2019. This group comprises community members such as a traffic violence victim family member, an Alameda Point Collaborative resident, and an AUSD parent/Safe Routes to School champion; a representative from the Commission on Persons with Disabilities; staff from external agencies including Alameda Unified School District, AC Transit, and the Alameda County Public Health Department; and City staff from seven different departments. Transportation Commission Chair Sam Soules represented the Transportation Commission in early meetings, and Commissioner Tina Yuen now serves on the Task Force. The current member list is in Exhibit 2.
The Task Force has had four meetings and expects to hold two more before the Action Plan is final. The group has accomplished the following:
• Gained an understanding of the Vision Zero movement
• Gleaned takeaways from crash data
• Discussed vision
• Refined and agreed upon five goals
• Discussed the role of police enforcement in Vision Zero
• Heard from members of the Committee on Police Reform & Racial Justice about their recommendations related to traffic enforcement
• Reviewed and helped generate 50+ draft actions
• Reviewed draft performance measures
The Task Force’s next step is to review the full Draft Action Plan and public engagement plan, in preparation for releasing the Plan for public feedback. At their last meeting prior to Action Plan adoption, they will review public feedback and the final Action Plan, and make a recommendation to the Transportation Commission on approval.
Timeline to Action Plan Adoption
Staff expects to seek Council adoption of the Action Plan by the end of the year, with the following timeline planned:
• Mid-July: release draft Action Plan
• Mid-July to mid-August: public engagement period, including a web survey, public forums, social media engagement, and presentations to community organizations as well as Boards and Commissions
• September 22: Seek approval from the Transportation Commission
• November or December: Seek adoption by Council
Crash Data Analysis
Alameda’s Vision Zero policy requires the City to use data to prioritize traffic safety efforts and design streets. Toole Design completed a crash data analysis summary in fall 2020 (see Exhibit 1).
Major findings from 10 years of crash data (2009 to 2018) include:
• Each year, an average of two people die, 10 people suffer severe injuries, and a total of 221 are injured in Alameda traffic collisions.
• The top two behaviors most associated severe injury or fatal crashes were:
o Failure to yield to a pedestrian
o Unsafe speeds
• Over 60% of severe injury and fatal crashes occurred on arterial streets.
• Most injury crashes occurred at un-signalized intersections, but signalized intersections were overrepresented: 7% of intersections are signalized but 22% of crashes happened at signalized intersections.
• People walking and biking are disproportionately vulnerable in crashes: while they made up 39% of Alameda’s crashes, they were in 62% of Alameda’s fatal and severe injury crashes.
• Improving safety around schools is important: 63% of crashes involving younger victims (ages 18 or younger) occurred within a quarter mile of a school while only 38% of Alameda’s streets are within a quarter mile of a school.
• People in socially vulnerable areas have a somewhat disproportionate risk of severe injury and fatal crashes: 41% of these crashes occurred in a socially vulnerable area while only 30% of Alameda’s roadways are within a socially vulnerable area.
Toole Design also developed High Injury Corridor maps that show the stretches of road with the highest crash densities, weighted by severity. Almost three-quarters of crashes occurred along High Injury Corridors, though they only cover 20% of Alameda’s streets. The City has already begun using these maps to prioritize and plan traffic safety investments, including the 2022-2023 Capital Improvement Plan. The maps are shown in Exhibit 1 or available at this link: www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero#section-5 <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero>
Other Vision Zero Accomplishments
Even while staff, consultants, and Task Force members work to develop the Action Plan, staff have worked to reduce severe injury and fatal traffic crashes, including the following:
• Vision Zero Implementation Team. Held regular meetings of this multidisciplinary internal staff group that coordinates ongoing traffic safety efforts.
• Post-collision site visits. Met on-site at the locations of all 2020 and 2021 fatal crashes.
• Street design policies. Wrote street safety policies related to Street Width, Lane Width, Crosswalks, and Bulb-outs, adopted by the Council in early 2020: www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero/#section-7 <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero/>
• Slow Streets. Responded to the pandemic by designating 4.5 miles of streets as low-auto-traffic areas for people to walk, bike, and wheel more safely.
• Major traffic safety projects. Continued work on corridor capital improvements, including completing construction on the Otis Drive Project and securing Council approval for the Central Avenue Project final designs: www.AlamedaCA.gov/SaferStreets#section-4 <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/SaferStreets>
• High Injury Corridor Daylighting Project. Began implementing this traffic safety project, which improves visibility at intersections on our most dangerous streets: www.alamedaca.gov/HICdaylighting <http://www.alamedaca.gov/HICdaylighting>
• Vision Zero webpage. Created, maintained, and expanded this webpage: www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero>
• Building Safer Streets webpage. Overhauled a traffic calming webpage: www.AlamedaCA.gov/SaferStreets <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/SaferStreets>
• Mailings. Established a Vision Zero mailing list (now with 370+ subscribers) and began sending regular mailings: www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero#section-6 <http://www.AlamedaCA.gov/VisionZero>
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This is an informational item, and as such has no financial impact.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The Vision Zero Action Plan is required by the Vision Zero policy. The following policies and goals directly or indirectly call for Vision Zero in Alameda:
• A September 3, 2019 Council referral included a call for a Vision Zero policy.
• The 2018 Transportation Choices Plan’s Projects 2, 9, and 30 all include creating a Vision Zero Safety Policy/Plan, marked high priority in all cases.
• The 2017 Safety and Noise Element of the General Plan, Policy SN-5, states: “Ensure that the City prioritize public safety through the implementation of a Vision Zero policy to reduce annual pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries resulting from collisions with faster moving vehicles and unsafe street design.”
• The 2013 Complete Streets Policy called for a “transportation network with infrastructure and design that allows safe and convenient travel along and across streets for all users.”
• The 2010 Transportation Element of the General Plan Objective 4.1.1 calls for “safe and efficient movement for people, goods, and services” by improving safety of pedestrian crossings; enhancing general pedestrian safety; providing bike facilities throughout the City; ensuring that people with disabilities can use transportation facilities; and improving safety for all modes.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This is an informational item.
RECOMMENDATION
Receive an update on Vision Zero Action Plan development and crash data analysis.
Respectfully submitted by,
Lisa Foster, Transportation Planner
Rochelle Wheeler, Senior Transportation Coordinator
Exhibit(s)
1. Crash Data Analysis Summary
2. Vision Zero Task Force member list