SAN DIEGO — A new roundabout is currently under construction in Pacific Beach, marking another step in San Diego's efforts to improve road safety and reduce emissions. This project is part of the city's broader initiative to build dozens more roundabouts in the coming years, and possibly hundreds more after that.
Jeremy Bloom from Circulate San Diego, a non-profit dedicated to making streets safer, highlighted the benefits of roundabouts.
"There is a 90 percent reduction in traffic fatalities where roundabouts are installed at an intersection and a 76 percent reduction in traffic injuries where a roundabout is put in," Bloom told CBS 8.
The city launched its Vision Zero campaign in 2015 with the goal of reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero within 10 years. However, recent data shows an increase in deaths, with 70 fatalities recorded last year.
Bloom attributes this trend to several factors.
"Cars are bigger than they were a decade ago. They're moving faster and we haven't built the infrastructure that we need to build," he explained.
Despite these challenges, positive steps are being taken to improve safety. In addition to roundabouts, the city is implementing more visible crosswalks.
"Brighter signals with flashing lights and sound, making sure there's audible crosswalks and then striping, paint on the ground so there's crosswalks that are well defined and labeled both for pedestrians and for the drivers," Bloom added.
The City of San Diego emphasized the dual benefits of roundabouts in a statement to CBS 8:
"Because of their many safety benefits, constructing roundabouts are a key component of the City of San Diego's Vision Zero efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injury. Roundabouts deliver increased safety to intersections while also lowering vehicle emissions in their surrounding community, part of the City's Climate Action strategy to lower vehicle emissions overall."
The new roundabout at Foothill and Loring in Pacific Beach is expected to be completed early next year.
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