San Francisco is starting a new campaign as a means to shrink the amount of traffic related deaths. The program is called “Vision Zero” and will be mandatory for some truck drivers in the city.
An online video course was created by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency as part of their Large Vehicle Urban Driving Safety Program.
The program is designed to help truckers deal with pedestrians on foot, distracted by their music or cellphones, bicyclists who don’t use the bike lanes, and pedestrians who do not follow traffic guidelines.
Every city truck driver, as well as drivers for companies that have city contracts, will be required to participate in this new training program. According to SFMTA, “Contractors with the SFMTA will be required to have any of their large vehicle drivers who drive in San Francisco either view the training video, or be trained in a manner that meets the training standards posted on this page.”
Other trucking companies will be strongly encouraged to have their drivers participate. UPS and FedEx have voluntarily agreed to have their drivers participate in the program as well.
The new program takes influence from similar traffic laws enforced by the city of New York and countries like Sweden. They expect to eliminate all traffic related deaths by 2024.
