Project Vision Zero has added high-visibility crosswalks, protected bike lanes, radar speed signs and narrowing lanes to Branham Lane and Meridian Avenue during this fall. 

Vision Zero is an international initiative launched in 2015 with the ultimate goal to reduce traffic fatalities. Its foundation focuses on three components: engineering, education and enforcement.

San Jose averages at least one fatality per week according to the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition organization. Through Vision Zero, San Jose hopes to improve road safety and eliminate the present traffic fatalities and injuries. 

San Jose’s former 2015-2020 Director of Transportation James Ortbal, who worked to provide convenient transportation infrastructure for citizens, believes that Project Vision Zero can dramatically improve the quality of life in the city.

“Many transportation leaders across the country, particularly local transportation leaders, said, ‘We can do better than this,’” Ortbal said. “It’s a pretty serious tragedy when people are dying just trying to get to school and work, so our goal was to reduce transportation fatalities to zero —a very ambitious goal which is not easy.”

With the addition of the new safety features, including protected bike lanes and radar speed signs, on roads like Meridian Avenue and Branham Lane, students’ safety concerns decrease. Sophomore Amanda Stratman, who bikes to school, has had trouble on busy roads around the school in the past due to stressed drivers who are not cautious of themselves and their surroundings. 

“It’s really just cars that aren’t cautious about bikes,” Stratman said. “[Drivers] aren’t checking for bikes because we move a lot faster than pedestrians, so they don’t consider us a hazard until we’re right there.”

A significant factor causing these collisions on the road is speeding, an issue for some Branham bikers and pedestrians who might be subject to accidents. Senior Lauren DeWeese, a student who biked to school for two years, got hit by a speeding car in a hit-and-run. Left with minor injuries, she did not receive compensation in return.

“When I was crossing an intersection, a car hadn’t stopped at a stop sign,” DeWeese said. “They hit my front tire and right thigh. If they hadn’t stopped in time, my bike probably would have been totaled.”

A key factor in Vision Zero’s plan is the implementation of community education in regards to road safety. The Walk n’ Roll program established in 2012 is utilized to spread factual information and share possible solutions to prevent further traffic issues to elementary schoolers. 

“I would say schools certainly got our priority from a safety standpoint, and I think it was appropriate to do that,” Ortbal said. “You know it’s a tragedy when anybody gets in an injury crash, but it’s particularly tragic with school-aged children.”

Beyond schools, there is a greater emphasis on educating the communities about their local projects. More specifically, projects on Branham Lane and Meridian Avenue included narrowing the traffic lanes to decrease vehicle speeds. Then, Vision Zero would update and educate these communities through adult education programs. 

“We communicate about upcoming projects that are aimed to improve areas of our city that have had higher than average crash rates to educate them about what’s going on in this area: what we’re trying to do to improve [and] what we need people to do when they’re moving through those areas,” Ortbal said.

With Project Vision Zero’s continuous efforts, there are expectations for a decrease in traffic fatalities and injuries, improving the overall road safety for the city of San Jose.

“[In] long term, I think [the goal] is attainable, but there’s going to be challenges associated,” Ortbal said. “A lot of work to be done, a lot of investment to be done, a lot of behavior change to be done by motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians. It’s going to take the entire community.”

Photo from San Jose Department of Transportation. Featured in a community meeting in June, this slide displays an example of improvements planned for Meridian Avenue that were implemented during the work that took place this September. Some improvements are still in progress, such as bike lane painting.

381 crashes happened on Meridian Avenue from 2019-2023, with 29 fatal or severe injuries (Source: San Jose Vision Zero Crash Data)