An average of 694 people are injured on Berkeley's streets every year. There have been several high profile injuries and deaths just in the last few weeks, including a tragic death on Marin Ave. We can and must to do more as a city to prevent this trauma.

The Berkeley Fire Department, in addition to responding to all of its other responsibilities, runs the city's ambulance service and are the first responders when there's a car crash. Responding to these emergencies puts a huge weight on the department, making up a large portion of the overall call volume. The Berkeley Fire Department has long had a prevention mission when it comes to fire safety. It mandates fire resistant building codes, conducts fire safety awareness events in the community, and enforces wildfire prevention measures in the Berkeley hills. Fire Chief David Sprague is now looking to take this same prevention approach to street trauma and has submitted a budget request to fund this prevention program. This program will help implement Vision Zero at the Fire Department and work with other city departments to prioritize safe street design while also making sure that the Fire Department can quickly respond to emergencies.

We're asking City Council and the City Manager to approve this budget request and fund a Program Manager position to set-up and run a Street Trauma Prevention program.

Note that this is a separate initiative from the Berkeley Citizens for Safe Streets initiative which aims to fund street improvements through an upcoming ballot measure. East Bay YIMBY is also supporting this campaign.