Category Archives: Vision Zero

HandleBar Happy Hour is THIS Thursday, March 29th

HandleBar Happy Hour #HBHH at Lunetta All Day
Ride with the Mayor is multi-modal with two great options in March
– Everyone Welcome!

This Thursday  March 29th, 5:30pm,
• Ride with the Mayor from Santa Monica City Hall
• Walk with Mayor Pro Tem from Ishihara Park
– choose your mode or meet us at Lunetta!

Both events will end at Lunetta All Day for a social gathering and our March, Bike Local HandleBar Happy Hour to celebrate Meatless in March--the effort to raise awareness and grow the movement toward plant-rich foods and the many healthy, environmentally sustainable and delicious plant based food options.  Join Mayor Ted Winterer, Mayor Pro Tempore Gleam Davis, City of Santa Monica and all our community partners: Santa Monica Spoke, Adopt-A-Walk, Buy Local Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance for another 3x’s the FUN CELEBRATION!

Get more info HERE

Join the walk, or the ride, or meet us on the back patio at Lunetta All Day for HBHH – we look forward to seeing you!

Meet your community and neighbors in a fun social atmosphere – we’ll share our enthusiasm for active transportation, everyone is welcome, regardless of travel mode.

Open House: Safe Streets for 17th Street & Michigan Avenue, Two dates!

Safe Streets for 17th Street & Michigan Avenue


Calles Seguras para la calle17 Y La Avenida Michigan

Walk or ride on over with your friends, neighbors, and family to enjoy a public open house and learn about the safety enhancements coming soon to 17th Street & Michigan Avenue.
Tues. April 3 6p-8p & Sat. April 7 10a-12p


Camine o paseé con sus amigos, vecinos y familiares para disfrutar una cita de puertas abiertas para aprender acerca de los mejoramientos de seguridad que vienen pronto a la calle 17 y la avenida Michigan.
Mart. 3 Abril 6p-8p Y Sab. 7 Abril 10a-12p

City Council discusses Strategic Mobility goals tonight.

Tonight, Santa Monica City Council will have a study session on the City’s Strategic Mobility Goals and the Big Blue Bus. We believe investments in safety must be a key component of our City’s mobility strategy. Together with community partners we have formed the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance to promote 10 principles condensed here:

  • No traffic fatalities are acceptable. Traffic collisions must not be brushed aside as “accidents”: collisions are predictable and therefore preventable.
  • Invest resources to improve equity. Our mobility and transportation systems should be safe and ensure commitment to serve as a model of 21st Century constitutional policing.
  • All students and children have a right to walk, bike or scoot safely to school.
  • Our mobility and transportation systems should equitably serve Santa Monica residents and all those who study, work or visit in our community
  • Our transportation system should generate zero emissions. To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to help strengthen our community, we need a Big Blue Bus (BBB) system to be popular, efficient and financially sound.
  • Streets are our largest public space. Street planning should integrate mobility and place-making to enhance social, economic and cultural opportunities, as well as our well-being needs.
  • Streets are essential environmental systems. We need to design our streets as critical components of our environmental and natural ecosystems so they contribute to safeguarding water, air quality and climate resilience.
  • Community co-creation is essential to enduring change. Diverse community voices are critical for identifying core values and the vision for transformative change, community stakeholders must be engaged from inception to completion of all projects.
  • Data drives decisions. We need to invest in robust, transparent collection and analysis of data which is essential for understanding what the tradeoffs are and to help provide transparency when challenging decisions are made.
  • Plan our city and mobility together. Policies on housing, open space, community facilities, commercial development, public spaces, and other land use policies should give priority to clean, affordable and sustainable mobility as it has a profound impact on our mobility options and choices.

We need safe streets, designed with infrastructure that supports sustainable environmental eco systems that are safe, livable and welcoming to all. That’s the commitment of the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance and is outlined in our Principles for Safe, Livable and Sustainable Streets in Santa Monica.

Email City Council at: council@smgov.net to tell them you support strong commitments to safety and environmental sustainability listed in the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance – Principles for Safe, Livable and Sustainable Streets in Santa Monica. 

Community Meeting Saturday, Feb 24th – SaMo Safe Streets Alliance

Please join the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance team to hear how we will help create Safe Streets in Santa Monica with your input and Vision Zero.


Day:       Saturday, February 24th
Where:  Colorado Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, across from Helen’s
Time:     1:30 – 3:00pm


At this meeting we will hear from City staff on Santa Monica’s Mobility Plan and how the City plans to implement Vision Zero to achieve zero traffic fatalities by 2026. This is a critical time for our community to make sure our streets are safe. There will be opportunity for questions, individual input and ways for you to get involved.


About the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance: 

Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance is a collaboration of local advocacy organizations and community members that together will promote and support implementation of our community’s shared goals of complete streets that are designed to be safe, equitable and welcoming to everyone.


In our home town in 2017, nine people were killed and 25 severely injured in collisions on the streets of Santa Monica, more than two-times the annual average of four fatalities in the years between 2006-2016. These collisions cannot be brushed aside as “accidents”: these crashes are predictable and therefore preventable. No traffic death is acceptable. We need meaningful and true commitment to the goals of safe streets by implementing Vision Zero. Vision Zero focuses on safe mobility for everyone — regardless of whether you walk, bike or drive a car.

It is time for a fresh approach. We can indeed design safe, livable and sustainable streets. To achieve these lofty goals we need a collaborated effort of community and civic stakeholders — including inter-departmental coordination of city divisions, and integration of projects and opportunities — education, transparent and appropriate enforcement, as well as complete street design that prioritizes safety and is engineered to reduce the effects of human error that result in fatalities or severe injuries.

Vision Zero began in Sweden 20 years ago. Since then they have cut traffic deaths in half (fewer that 3/100k compared to 11/100k in the US) while at the same time increasing their population and vehicle miles traveled.  Numerous cities in the US have also adopted Vision Zero. In the three and half years since New York City adopted Vision Zero they have seen 23% fewer road fatalities. Closer to home, Fremont, California adopted Vision Zero in 2015 and has since seen a 25% reduction in traffic fatalities. We can do this!

In Santa Monica we are ahead of many cities leading with a vast array of mobility options. Our City Council adopted “A New Model of Mobility” as one of its five strategic goals in 2015. We have a clear direction to develop a diverse transportation ecosystem that is equitable and encourages walking, biking, public transit, van-pools as well as a variety of shared mobility options.

Our priority is to keep our community safe regardless of ability or mode of travel, mindful of our most vulnerable population.

Santa Monica Spoke Update Meeting: Vision Zero

SM Spoke MeetingSunday, November 19th
Doors open at 9:30am with coffee, bagels

Arrive by 10am – get a bonus*

10:15AM – Short discussion style presentation about local projects, BAP update, Volunteer opportunities / Operation Firefly.
– time for input and questions.
– VISION ZERO, what is it? why is it important, Vision Zero Draft Planning Document

Event info HERE
RSVP@SMSpoke.org

*those that arrive by 10am will get the bonus gift bag