Nearly 40% of San Francisco’s traffic fatalities in 2019 involved drivers making left turns who did not see the person in the crosswalk. Until it was too late.

The Safer Intersections Campaign aims to increase traffic safety on SF streets. It includes engineering interventions—left turn guide bumps—and a communications campaign to raise awareness and promote safer driving behavior. 

The MIG-created campaign concept extends to all campaign materials—including Safe Spot posters (posted at the intersections with the new left turn guide bumps), a social media tool kit, digital media ads and video, outreach cards, neighborhood doorhangers, merchant posters—and a dynamic scrolling campaign landing page with an embedded educational video: Anatomy of a Left Turn. It’s viewable in four languages! visionzerosf.org/leftturns 

The first phase of the campaign informed residents who live near initial pilot test intersections about what the left turn guide bumps are and how they promote safety. In 2021, the second phase communications campaign extended citywide and focused on the three safer left turn tips: 

1. Take it slow (5 mph is safest)
2. Make it square (90-degree angles are best) 
3. Stay aware (look out for cars, cyclists and people in the crosswalk)

An online report, “A Turn Toward Safety: The Safer Intersections Project,” analyzes and presents the results of the engineering treatments and the education campaign. The results were wider turns, with a 17% reduction in average speed and a 71% reduction in the likelihood of a car turning left at higher speeds over 15 mph.

The earned media strategy gained the Safer Intersections Campaign national attention in top-tier publications:

• Forbes
• Fast Company
• Planetizen
• Streetsblog
• Mass Transit Magazine
• SF Gate