Press Release - OTS Vision Zero Motorcycle Safety Program

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) today announced that is has received a $48,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) that focuses on the safety of motorcyclists. This grant supports the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities and will fund important education and outreach to the motorcycle community.

The Motorcycle Safety Program builds off a three-year pilot also funded by OTS which trained over 120 motorcyclists and distributed over 10,000 education materials to motorcycle shops, clubs, and riders. Grant funds will be used for a variety of activities promoting motorcycle safety and include:

• Collaborating with SFPD to provide hands-on motorcycle training courses, where riders can practice various safety skills and to improve their defensive riding.
• Developing new motorcycle safety educational material, such as an online social media quiz to reach a broader motorcycle audience.
• Providing motorcycle clubs, shops, and riders motorcycle safety material to increase awareness about motorcycle safety.

California has nearly 900,000 registered motorcycles. In San Francisco, we know that motorcycle riders are a vulnerable road user and are more likely to experience severe or fatal injuries when they are involved in a traffic collision.

Each year in San Francisco, about 30 people lose their lives and over 500 more are severely injured while traveling on city streets. These deaths and injuries are unacceptable and preventable, and San Francisco is committed to stopping further loss of life. Vision Zero San Francisco commits city agencies to build better and safer streets, educate the public on traffic safety and adopt policy changes that save lives.

More program information will be shared once SFMTA staff have developed changes that are consistent with DPH health and safety guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This grant program runs from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Vision Zero (www.visionzerosf.org) – San Francisco adopted Vision Zero as a policy in 2014, committing to build better and safer streets, educate the public on traffic safety, enforce traffic laws, and adopt policy changes that save lives. The result of this collaborative, citywide effort is safer, more livable streets as San Francisco works towards the Vision Zero goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2024. San Francisco is engineering inherently safer streets, enforcing traffic laws more effectively, and targeting traffic-safety education to reach its Vision Zero goals.

Office of Traffic Safety (www.ots.ca.gov) – The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is committed to our vision of a transportation system where everyone traveling on California roads will go safely. The OTS does this by administering traffic safety grants to local and state agencies for innovative programs that strive to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries. These programs educate road users on traffic laws and best safety practices that keep everyone safe when on the go.