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Mountain View is taking steps to make its Vision Zero policy a reality, picking a consultant to help strategize ways to eliminate traffic fatalities and make it safer to walk and bike in the city.
The city adopted a Vision Zero Policy in 2019, aiming to reach zero fatal traffic collisions by 2030. The following year, it hired an engineering firm to find and prioritize road safety improvements that could achieve that goal.
City officials are now recommending that the council select Moore Iacofano Goltsman (MIG), a consultant, to help with outreach, community engagement and marketing for its Vision Zero efforts. The City Council will vote on the $255,000 contract at its Dec. 5 meeting.
A substantial portion of the consulting work will focus on shifting public attitudes and behaviors around safe driving practices. MIG also will develop a “brand book” with key messages, statistics and talking points about Vision Zero and its goals, the council report said.
From 2014 to 2019, there were about 1,200 crashes in Mountain View that resulted in 13 fatalities and 64 severe injuries, according to a Public Works department presentation that was held on March 24, 2022. Pedestrians and bicyclists were overrepresented among the fatalities and injuries, the report said, which was presented just days after a 13-year-old bicyclist was fatally struck by a truck at the intersection of El Camino Real and Grant Road.
Along with its Vision Zero Policy, the city also is investing in major roadway upgrades to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety over the next five years as part of its Capital Improvements Program. The city has identified 27 projects, with a focus on implementing road safety measures in areas where there is a high incidence of traffic collisions and injuries, as well as along routes to schools and senior centers, the council report said.
One of the projects, which will bring traffic-calming measures to California Street, is slated to start next summer, while another project at El Monte Avenue is expected to begin in late 2025.
2030! How many people have to die needlessly while this footdragging goes on for 7 years?!
“Pedestrians and cyclists are getting killed by car drivers in Mountain View. Time to do something!”
“Oh, will we finally get protected bike lanes and safer walkways??”
“No no no, we’re going to keep roads exactly the same. Instead, let’s develop a marketing campaign to convince drivers to feel bad when they kill pedestrians and cyclists.”
I hope that part of the effort in “shifting public attitudes and behaviors around safe driving practices” involves improving the attitudes and behaviors of the bicyclists themselves. I dread being in a car at 4-way stop since so many bicyclists just run through the stop into the intersection while other cars have been waiting behind their stop signs.
On several occasions, while going north-west bound on El Camino through Grant, I’ve noticed cars getting confused so that they end up changing lanes in the middle of the intersection. Not sure if that was the direction when one of the tragic accidents at that intersection occurred.
I hope the city’s Vision Zero includes shopping center parking lots.