San Francisco unveils new pedestrian safety efforts

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There are new pedestrian safety efforts in San Francisco. On Tuesday, the city unveiled the latest component of its ambitious "Vision Zero" campaign.

Robert Frazier is one of thousands of drivers who maneuver oversized vehicles down San Francisco's congested streets.

"Seeing all the people and the bikes and stuff, especially with a truck this size, it's hard, very hard," said Frazier.

Mayor Ed Lee on Tuesday announced a new large vehicle safety training program.

Over the last five years, large vehicles have represented 4 percent of traffic collisions, but 17 percent of pedestrian and bicyclists' deaths.

That includes one last year when a truck driver killed a bicyclist south of Market St., and another accident where a Recology truck crushed a little girl's foot.

Now the California Trucking Association will provide drivers and big-rigs to create a safety video capturing San Francisco's unique challenges.

"We've got steep hills that these drivers need to navigate, we have tourists in huge numbers, we have all sorts of pedestrians and cyclists in numbers that we don't see anywhere else," said Richard Coyle with the California Trucking Association.

For some drivers, viewing will be mandatory.

"The companies that do business with the city, those will be inserted in their contract to comply," said Mohammed Nuru with San Francisco Public Works.

It's all part of San Francisco's Vision Zero, an ambitious goal to make those types of accidents a thing of the past.

"We need to do whatever we can to make it easy for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists to all co-exist," said Nicole Schneider with Walk San Francisco.

Frazier says the safety video might help.