City agencies are focused on the same goal: make streets safer for everyone.
We’ve been working closely with our city partners to make streets safer across San Francisco. This week, we’re sharing our progress on Mayor Lurie’s Street Safety Initiative.
The new program webpage shares the 100-day and 6-month actions departments have taken. Accountability is critical as we do this work. We welcome you to check out each action item and read on for details.
Our teams at the SFMTA have been working hard to help move this initiative forward. We want to keep you in the loop on our efforts over the last 6 months! We’ll cover our new Safety Zone Program, the city’s efforts around e-bikes and scooters and more.
Making daylighted spaced safer and more meaningful
You could start seeing more artwork in daylighted spaces – learn the details of our new program.
You’re probably familiar with our work painting curbs red near intersections. This daylighting program makes intersections safer for everyone and meets the state requirement.
Now, we’re building on it with our new Safety Zone Program. The program will transform existing no-parking zones into multi-use spaces that:
- Improve intersection safety
- Support access to neighborhood destinations
- Create opportunities for community-led beautification
How it works
At priority locations, our teams will create painted safety zones. We’ll also add upgrades like bike corrals and concrete elements where needed.
These painted safety zone spaces may be eligible for community-funded enhancements through our new Community Corners program. This 24-month pilot program was just approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors! It will let community groups apply to beautify select spaces with murals and planters.
We’re also offering a pathway for community groups to beautify spaces that fall under the daylighting requirement but do not have a painted safety zone currently or one that’s planned. They would just need to have a licensed contractor make safety updates that meet our requirements before adding a mural or planter.
What to expect
We will update our daylighting program webpage with more information in the coming weeks. It will share how to apply and more on the insurance requirements to install planters.
We’re thrilled to improve safety and help these zones reflect the character, culture and creativity of local neighborhoods!
Supporting e-mobility while addressing risks
We’re supporting e-device benefits while focusing on safety risks as a city.
We also want to keep you informed about our work around e-scooters and e-bikes.
Along with our city partners, we recognize that these devices bring a range of benefits! They help people get up hills, and they’re a green way to get between neighborhoods. We want to support these benefits while addressing growing safety risks.
Already, the SFMTA has strong guidelines for where shared e-devices can park and travel. But our authority is limited. We’re working with other partner agencies to make a bigger impact.
Together, we’ll focus on public education, clear rules, enforcement and infrastructure. The city is also bringing together delivery app companies, advocacy groups, city agencies and other stakeholders. And we’re working with our partners at the state level.
We will keep you informed about our next steps.
Strengthening city partnerships to improve safety
Over the last six months, we have also strengthened partnerships with other city agencies.
We drove efficiencies:
- With the San Francisco Fire Department. Together, we created a Street Design Review Manual. It provides clear standards for traffic calming measures, street design and project review between the SFMTA and SFFD. This helps projects move more efficiently and predictably.
- With the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Public Works. We improved a process to strengthen coordination between city agencies. This will help make sure street safety upgrades are systematically considered whenever streets are repaved or reconstructed.
Working year round to create safer streets
Speed safety cameras are one of several ways we’re working to slow down speeds on city streets.
Our work on the Street Safety Initiative complements steps we take year-round to create safer streets. These include our:
- Speed safety camera program. First year data shows an 80% drop in speeding across evaluated camera locations.
- Red light camera program. Our combined red- light camera, engineering and education efforts have resulted in a 70% citywide drop in injury collisions resulting from red-light running between 1996 and 2025.
- Signal retiming projects. We have completed 700 signal retiming projects to make it safer for people to use crosswalks citywide. 470 of the projects are on San Francisco’s new High Injury Network.
Next steps
We’ll continue to share our street safety work, including a one-year update on the Street Safety Initiative.
We will also hold a hearing on action items in July. We will provide more details about the hearing on our website and social media.
Creating safer streets is our top priority, and we are committed to making progress along with our city partners!