At the July 28, 2025 BPAC Policy and Legislative Committee meeting, Liza Lutzker will present on “Examining the Safety-Safety Dilemma: Preliminary Findings from a Study of Conflicts between Safe Streets Improvements and Emergency Response”.

Cities across the United States (U.S.) are encountering mounting tensions between efforts to improve street infrastructure for pedestrian and bicyclist safety (e.g., protected bike lanes, speed tables) and concerns from fire departments that such changes can impede emergency response and evacuation. However, emergency response and street safety need not be incompatible goals. Cities across the U.S. are developing innovative solutions, addressing the physical, institutional, and cultural roots of these conflicts.

Under a grant from the US Department of Transportation and the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, our UC Berkeley team is completing an exploratory research project to better understand the roots of conflicts and innovative means of overcoming conflicts. Under a grant from the US Department of Transportation and the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, our UC Berkeley team is completing an exploratory research project to better understand the roots of conflicts and innovative means of overcoming conflicts between street safety efforts and fire and emergency response priorities.

An excerpt is below, followed by the full presentation.