San Francisco celebrates drop in traffic deaths

San Francisco says traffic deaths plunged 42% last year.

While the city celebrates the numbers, leaders say there’s still a lot more work to do.

“We are so glad to see fewer of these tragedies on our streets last year, and I hope this is a turning point for this city,” said Marta Lindsey with Walk San Francisco.

Marta is cautiously optimistic as the city looks to build on its street safety efforts.

“The city has been doing more of the things we need on our streets, whether its speed cameras or daylighting or speed humps,” she said.

Viktorya Wise with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said there are many things the agency has been doing to ensure street safety is the focus, including adding speed cameras at 33 locations, and it’s paying off.

“Besides the visible speed cameras, we’re doing a lot of basic bread and butter work on our streets,” Wise said. “For example, we’re really data driven and focused on the high injury network.”

Late last year, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced the city’s street safety initiative.

“Bringing together all of the departments, all of the city family to collectively tackle the problem of street safety,” Wise said. “And all of us working together into the future, I’m very hopeful that we will continue this trend.”