San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has launched a sweeping new effort to make the city’s streets safer, signing an executive directive that puts his office in charge of coordinating traffic safety work across city government.
According to the Mayor’s office, the Street Safety executive directive brings together transportation, public safety and public health agencies under a single, mayor-led strategy aimed at reducing traffic injuries and deaths. The plan creates new accountability measures and a formal working group to coordinate how streets are designed, enforced and managed.
Lurie said the initiative is aimed at addressing traffic violence, which he described as both predictable and preventable.
“Too often, traffic injuries are the result of predictable patterns — and preventable conditions. Now is the moment to take what works, improve what doesn’t, and elevate this work across the entire city government,” Lurie said in a statement on Monday.
“I am proud to launch the Street Safety Initiative and make one thing clear: In San Francisco, safety is non-negotiable.”
Building on prior initiatives
The directive builds on earlier actions by Lurie, including the launch of automated speed cameras, which made San Francisco the first city in California to use the technology. City officials said that since then, speeding has dropped an average of 78 percent across 33 locations, resulting in about 40,000 fewer speeding vehicles each day.
Citywide crime is also declining, according to the Mayor’s office, with overall crime down nearly 30 percent and down nearly 40 percent in busy commercial areas such as Union Square and the Financial District.
Under the new directive, the Mayor’s office will oversee a Street Safety Initiative Working Group, led by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Police Department. Each city agency involved in transportation design, regulation or enforcement will appoint a senior leader to participate.
“Too often, traffic injuries are the result of predictable patterns — and preventable conditions. Now is the moment to take what works, improve what doesn’t, and elevate this work across the entire city government.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie
City officials said the group will coordinate projects, track progress and share data, including through a public dashboard that shows results and agency commitments. The directive also calls for faster review of safety projects by the fire department and changes to the city’s residential traffic calming program to speed the installation of measures like speed humps.
Transportation Director Julie Kirschbaum said proven tools such as quick-build street changes, school daylighting and speed cameras work best when agencies act together. Interim Police Chief Paul Yep said officers will continue enforcing traffic laws while working with other departments to reduce serious crashes.
Public health leaders also stressed the urgency. Nearly half of the trauma cases at San Francisco General Hospital are linked to traffic crashes, according to city data. On average, someone is hospitalized for a traffic injury every 15 hours, and more than 500 people a year are severely hurt.
In 2024, 42 people were killed in traffic crashes in San Francisco, including 24 pedestrians, the highest totals in at least a decade.
Advocates cheer directive
Advocacy groups welcomed Lurie’s move. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, or SFBike, said the directive signals stronger leadership and coordination, though it warned that follow-through will be critical.
“We don’t need another year to decide which high-stress corridors and intersections to address and remedy,” Claire Amable, director of advocacy for SFBike, said in her own statement. “We have all the information we need to move quickly and intelligently to improve street conditions and save lives.
Walk San Francisco praised the creation of a traffic safety task force within the mayor’s office, calling it a key feature of successful Vision Zero cities worldwide.
“It’s so important that Mayor Lurie is putting traffic safety directly into his office. This is something Walk SF has advocated for for a long time,” said Jodie Medeiros, Walk San Francisco’s executive director.
Emergency room physician Christian Rose, a member of San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets, expressed his gratitude.
“As a dad, as a doctor, and as a crash survivor, I’m grateful to Mayor Lurie for taking real action today to take on traffic safety,” Rose said.
“This public health crisis is, and has been, urgent. Prioritizing the safety on our streets doesn’t just save lives, it makes our city better: more vibrant, joyful, sustainable, human, and humane.”