For this installment of Stories from the Field, UC Berkeley SafeTREC’s Kris Leckie spoke with San José Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero team. In this conversation, they talk to us about their work to improve safety for those who walk, bike, and roll in San José. Read their Safety Story below!
What is your current role within the City of San José’s Department of Transportation (SJ DOT)?
Lam Cruz: I currently serve as a Division Manager at SJ DOT.
Colin Heyne: I am the Public Information Manager at SJ DOT.
Ann Jasper: I am an Associate Transportation Specialist at SJ DOT’s Walk n’ Roll program.
Thao Nguyen: I am also an Associate Transportation Specialist at SJ DOT and I work for the Vision Zero program.
How is SJ DOT’s Vision Zero program working to prioritize the safety of people walking, biking, and rolling?
Colin: The city adopted its 2025 Vision Zero plan, which is also our first to set timebound Vision Zero goals to:
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Reduce fatal and severe injuries 30% (from 2024 levels) by 2030; and
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Eliminate all fatal and severe injuries by 2040.
The Program’s multilayered approach to road safety seems to mirror the Safe System Approach in a lot of ways. Is this an approach the Program has adopted and/or considers when conducting its road safety work?
Thao: With the adoption of our 2025 Vision Zero Action Plan, San José has shifted to the US DOT’s Safe System Approach
Thao: We combined the Approach’s guiding principles with our own statistical knowledge of the issues threatening traffic safety in San José to develop the following Priority Action Areas:
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Prioritize Equity and Vulnerable Road Users: Focus on underserved communities and high-risk populations to ensure equitable access to safe streets.
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Center Data Analytics and Reporting: Use advanced data tools to track progress and target safety interventions effectively.
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Strategize Traffic Enforcement: Deploy focused enforcement strategies, including speed and red-light camera systems.
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Engineer for Safety: Enhance infrastructure through data-driven Quick Build projects and capital improvements.
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Engage the Community and Message Safety: Strengthen public outreach, education, and safety awareness efforts.
How does this multilayered approach help San José achieve its Vision Zero goals? For example, we know that you have had success pairing quick-build projects with road safety awareness initiatives to better manage speeds across the City.
Colin: We know that by applying the Safe System Approach and our Priority Action Areas, with a focus on vulnerable road users, we will improve safety for everyone traveling on San José streets.
Thao: Key initiatives include installing quick-build improvements along our Priority Safety Corridors, implementing recommendations from the Walk Safe San José: Pedestrian Safety Plan, launching the “Slow Down, San José” behavior change campaign, and initiating speed safety system pilots enabled by Assembly Bill (AB) 43 (Speed Limits) and AB 645 (Speed Cameras). These key initiatives reflect the City’s focus on addressing the root causes of crashes while advancing public awareness and legislative tools.
San José saw its second year of declines in traffic fatalities, including a 16% drop in traffic fatalities from 2024. How did the Program help to achieve these road safety results?
Thao: We now have declines in the numbers of people killed or severely injured (KSI) for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Though it’s difficult to point to any individual action or policy, we believe our Safe System Approach is yielding results. Over the last six years, we have significantly accelerated the implementation of street safety projects, thanks largely to the use of quick-build materials and the close collaboration of our traffic safety and pavement maintenance teams. We take every feasible opportunity to calm traffic and improve visibility and separation of people walking and biking, particularly on high-speed and/or high-capacity corridors. These projects are data driven and evidence based. We use data analytics to understand and address traffic safety issues effectively.
Colin: In addition to continuously improving infrastructure, we have made it a priority to talk about street safety in direct terms and easy-to-understand calls to action. Our “Slow Down, San José” campaign used billboards, digital advertising, bus ads, posters, tote bags, yard signs, and more, to urge all drivers to reduce speeds – a simple and effective tactic that addresses our number one known primary collision factor in fatal and serious injury crashes.
Lam: Our outreach to introduce upcoming red light and speed safety cameras saw seven in-person and one virtual town hall reach hundreds of residents. We took the opportunity to hammer home the message that speeding and red-light running are our two top known causes of fatal and serious crashes, and that it is up to all of us to prevent traffic tragedies.
Ann: Meanwhile, our Walk ‘n’ Roll student safety program continues to expand, now serving over 100 schools with traffic safety education, walk and bike to school days, and bike rodeos to teach children and their families the essentials of safe active transportation. Complementing the Walk ‘n’ Roll program, our School Safety Program was launched in 2022 in response to the heartbreaking loss of a San José elementary school student.
Ann: Since then, the Department of Transportation has significantly expanded its commitment to protecting students and families as they travel to and from school. The program is proactively engaging more than 200 schools citywide to assess access, circulation, and traffic safety needs. As part of this work, DOT is upgrading school‑area infrastructure with modern, high‑visibility crosswalks; refreshed striping and signage; improved curb markings; and other traffic‑calming features designed to slow speeds and increase driver awareness. Schools also receive tailored access and circulation studies that help manage pick‑up and drop‑off activity more safely and efficiently.
The Vision Zero program just hit its tenth year, congratulations! What are the top lessons learned and/or advice you would share with other cities wanting to advance road safety in their communities?
Colin:
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Shore up political support: We are fortunate to have a Mayor and City Council that understand the significance and impact of fatal and serious injury crashes. And we have had a few vocal champions on our City Council who have helped us complete safety projects that were controversial with some community members. It takes time and perseverance to educate and assure elected officials that you are doing the right thing, but it is worth the effort.
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Find ways to implement projects in less time, for less money: We have had great success using quick-build materials like plastic delineators and paint, right-sizing the number and width of travel lanes, adjusting signal timing, and moving parked vehicles to achieve safer corridors in short time frames. By working with our planned pavement maintenance work, we have been able to make these changes while the road surface was already getting refreshed or replaced, saving significant budget compared to stand-alone safety projects.
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Help the public understand the issue: We make our data public and easy to use, and we stay on message. We have had interactive maps and data available on our website for years and are currently upgrading to a map-based data dashboard, to be released later this year. The data shows that speeding and red-light running are our top two issues and this is what we share with the public consistently.
Last year the City Council voted to approve reduced speed limits along 18 roadways in the City. How does the City see speed management’s role in helping to achieve its Vision Zero goals?
Thao: Speeding is our top known cause of KSI crashes, and even legal high speeds can lead to more and more severe crashes. More than 90% of the total mileage on San José’s Priority Safety Corridors has a posted speed limit of 35 mph or higher. The likelihood of a person walking surviving a vehicle hit at the legal speed limit on the vast majority of these corridors is less than half.
Lam: The City is leveraging legislative tools and public outreach to address speeding. We were excited to take advantage of AB 43 (passed in 2021) and AB 1938 (passed in 2022) to lower speed limits in business districts and along safety corridors. In many cases, the reduced speed limits will soon be enforced by automated speed safety camera systems. We hope this strategy will supplement our infrastructure improvements to reduce speeds, particularly along known high-injury corridors, and save lives.
If you had a superpower and could change anything, what would the future of road safety look like in San José?
Colin: Zero fatalities and severe injuries is the only acceptable goal and one that we hope is within reach in the near future. We know that in addition to the data, infrastructure, and enforcement capabilities we have control over, public attitudes and behavior are one of the most difficult variables to change. Our superpower would be to help people understand that their safety and the safety of their families, friends, and neighbors are orders of magnitude more important than maximizing speed and convenience for drivers.
This Stories From the Field interview was conducted in collaboration with UC Berkeley SafeTREC. The opinions and perspectives expressed are those of the interviewee and not necessarily those of SafeTREC or the Office of Traffic Safety.
