A recent report from San Diego's Office of the City Auditor found funding for pedestrian safety projects like crosswalks and street lighting fell far short of the need, and that the city could improve coordination across departments to improve traffic safety.
The report is a follow-up to a 2016 audit on pedestrian safety, which found the city was failing to use data to prioritize safety upgrades at the most dangerous intersections. Intersections that were relatively safe were getting improvements like high-visibility crosswalks and pedestrian countdown timers while more collision-prone intersections were getting nothing.
The more recent audit finds the city is doing a much better job using data to guide its pedestrian infrastructure planning. However the city is unable to keep up with the growing list of unfunded needs for pedestrian safety.
"There are well over 1,000 projects on that list, and in an average year they can do about 40 of them … which makes it even more important to take a data-driven approach and make sure that those 40 projects are really put in the areas where they'll have the biggest benefit," said San Diego City Auditor Andy Hanau.
It's been more than eight years since city officials adopted "Vision Zero," a goal of ending all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2025. More than two years from that deadline, the number of total deaths and injuries each year is essentially unchanged. Meanwhile pedestrian deaths are on the rise — both in San Diego and across the country.
One challenge at the city is the fact that traffic safety efforts are spread across a host of city departments. When Hanau compared San Diego to five other cities that have adopted their own Vision Zero goals — Austin, Minneapolis, Portland, San Jose and San Francisco — San Diego was the only city that lacked a staff position dedicated to coordinating all the various Vision Zero initiatives.
"There is one person in the Transportation Department that tries to take that on, but that's one of numerous responsibilities that they have," Hanau said. "Adding that position would really help coordinate a major effort across a lot of different city departments."
In his response to the audit report, San Diego's Chief Operating Officer Erik Dargan said he agreed the city could use a dedicated Vision Zero coordinator, but that creating the new position was "contingent upon the availability of additional resources."
