Santa Clara has joined a growing number of Bay Area cities pursuing policies aimed at eliminating traffic deaths.
The Santa Clara City Council voted early Wednesday morning to adopt the city’s Vision Zero plan, committing to a strategy to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries on local roads. City officials decided to implement the plan due to 51 people who died in traffic crashes between 2019 and 2023 — a high rate for a city of roughly 120,000 residents.
District 3 Councilmember Karen Hardy said the effort has been years in the making and stressed the importance of remembering the people who lost their lives.
“These are people, not just statistics,” Hardy said, noting she and other councilmembers have worked on the Vision Zero initiative for years.
Vision Zero is a data-driven approach to traffic safety focused on reducing fatal and severe crashes through roadway design improvements, education and enforcement while prioritizing safe mobility for all road users. Other local cities with Vision Zero plan’s include San Jose and Cupertino.
Santa Clara’s strategies include identifying high-injury corridors — such as Monroe Street from Lawrence Expressway to Bowers Avenue and El Camino Real from Halford Avenue to Scott Boulevard — and prioritizing safety improvements such as redesigned intersections, improved crosswalks, traffic calming measures and better lighting.
The vote happened at roughly 2:30 a.m. after Mayor Lisa Gillmor moved several agenda items earlier in the evening, pushing the Vision Zero discussion until after midnight.
Councilmembers authorized City Manager Jovan Grogan to move forward with implementing safety improvements, but didn’t approve a proposal to add another senior civil engineer position, citing uncertainty about how the role would be funded.
Betsy Megas, who serves on the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee but spoke on her own behalf, urged the council to continue evaluating staffing needs as the plan moves forward.
“Adopting the Vision Zero plan is only the first step,” Megas said at the meeting. “To make any difference, the plan will need resources behind it. I hope the council will return to the staffing question when there are better answers about the available budget and when everybody is rested.”
Senior Civil Engineer Nicole He, who works with the Department of Public Works, said city traffic fatality data is comparable to other cities in California.
“But I would like to remind everyone that these are more than just numbers, it’s a life changing incident,” she said.
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