This post originally appeared on the Traffic Violence Rapid Response website and is published here with permission.
Last week, OakDOT and AC Transit shared the results of the International BRT Safety Project and frankly the results are an eye-popping success. Traffic calming infrastructure saves lives. Please write City Council and AC Transit to thank them for their continued support for this project. Details at the end of this post.
Based on data collected since the installation in August of 2024, all signs point to a much safer street:
- The number of private vehicles misusing the bus-only lane is down by 83%!
- The measured “85% percentile” speed of cars that do enter the bus lane is down from 40mph to just under 30mph, while the general travel lane now matches the posted speed limit of 25mph
- And most importantly, traffic fatalities are down from 10 in 2023 to 2 in 2025, and pedestrian fatalities are down from 7 in 2023 to 0 in 2025. Yes, zero!
We are not entirely out of the woods yet, but it means more of our neighbors are alive today because of these simple plastic posts and speed cushions.
You played a big part of this success!
The second vigil held by TVRR was for Emelia Martinez in June 2022, at 16th Ave, followed by Lolo Soakai later that same month at 54th Ave. With six people killed on International in 2022, we started asking questions and demanding answers…