Police Target Problem Areas as Part of the Traffic Review by Steven Baker,
City authorities are signaling a few changes to help dri=
vers
slow down in
Since a review of the city's traffic-calming policies be=
gan
in 2007,
As part of the review process, police had been conducting
special traffic patrols in areas with the most resident complaints, a strat=
egy
that Smith called "somewhat ineffective and at best scattered" du=
ring
a Transportation and Environment Committee meeting on March 3.
Police now consider crash data along with resident
complaints to create special patrols.
"Now we can more effectively deal with the
problem," Smith said.
The new police strategy comes on the heels of a
traffic-calming policy overhaul that the city council is expected to consid=
er
in May.
Led by Councilm=
an
Pierluigi Oliverio and others, city workers have conducted 10 public
meetings throughout the city since July 2007 to gather residents' input on
slowing traffic. An update to the city's 2001 traffic-calming policy had be=
en
planned, but Oliverio took on the meetings in part because of a July 23 cra=
sh
on
Bucking the national trend,
Many of the 225 residents who attended the community
meetings said they wanted more traffic-calming devices, such as speed bumps,
installed in neighborhoods. City officials said workers have installed road
features such as traffic circles and speed bumps in more than 30 neighborho=
ods
since 2001, but that only covered roughly 2 percent of neighborhoods that w=
ant
them.
Transportation officials say they do not have money for
speed bumps in every neighborhood, and the devices may not be the best opti=
on
because they impede emergency vehicles, damage garbage trucks and school bu=
ses
and divert traffic to other streets.
Councilwoman Nora Campos, a member of the Transportation=
and
Environment Committee, said that residents perceive an inconsistent policy =
on
speed bumps in the city, and people don't understand why some neighborhoods
have them and others don't.
City officials consider a street's eligibility for
traffic-calming devices when its average speed, traffic volume or number of
crashes is at least 10 percent above the city average. City leaders are
considering lowering the 10 percent threshold and looking at factors such as
special events that contribute to problems.
"We need to be sending a clear message with these
devices,"
City staff is considering allowing neighborhood groups to
self-fund traffic-calming devices, and residents also have called for incre=
ased
fines for speeders, which are set at the state level.
Many residents also favored installing cameras that snap
photos of vehicles that roll through red lights. "Red Light Running&qu=
ot;
systems in other California cities typically use speed sensors in the ground
that are timed with stop lights to trigger a video or still shot of the
vehicle's license plate.
Some
At the transportation committee meeting, Councilman Sam
Liccardo said that getting rid of some of the "no parking" zones =
in
the city might help slow traffic by narrowing streets with more parked cars=
. It
would also be a boon for some businesses.
"Eliminating some red paint might do a world of
good," he said.
For more information on traffic enforcement policies of =
the
Crosstown traffic
San Jose Police have stepped up patrols at 18 intersecti=
ons
where residents have complained of speeding and crashes that have occurred.
According to the police map at www.sjpd.org/teu, those intersections includ=
e:
*
* Almaden Expressway and
* Almaden Expressway and
* Many other intersections on