Santa Cruz 2018 And 2019 Traffic Safety Reports Offer Guide To Engineering And Enforcement Efforts

Press release from the City of Santa Cruz:

March 23, 2021

SANTA CRUZ — The City of Santa Cruz has released its 2018 and 2019 Annual Traffic Safety Reports. These reviews focus on crash data of reported traffic collisions that resulted in injury or fatality for the years ending Dec. 31, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2019. The data shows some promising trends and provides a guide for future engineering and enforcement effort improvements.

Despite positive data reported in 2018 and 2019, there have been two deaths on City of Santa Cruz roadways in the first three months of 2021 underscoring the serious need for traffic safety improvement. The annual reports serve to hold the City accountable and guide future efforts to continue to increase traffic safety for all roadway users.

The reports’ positive trends may reflect the impact of targeted infrastructure investments, including Safe Routes-to-School projects, the San Lorenzo River Parkway Trestle Trail project, the Branciforte Bike Pedestrian Bridge & Multi-Use Trail project, new green bike lanes, and the City’s Street Smarts traffic safety outreach. Other trends highlight areas in need of improvement, where the City will continue to focus efforts to work towards the City Council’s adopted Vision Zero policy — a goal of zero fatalities or serious injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.

“Traffic safety projects continue to be a major focus for Public Works with 42 crosswalk improvements completed in 2020 through grant funding plus the recent completion of Coastal Rail Trail Segment 7/ Phase I. These reports will help us prioritize future efforts,” said Public Works Director Mark Dettle.

Highlights of the reports include:

• Injury collisions involving pedestrians (25) decreased by 60 percent.
• Injury collisions involving motorcycles (7) decreased by 27 percent from 2018 to 2019.
• The number of felony hit-and-run collisions (4) decreased by 24 percent from 2018 to 2019.
• Alcohol-involved collisions (10) decreased by 35 percent
• Total injury collisions (16) are down 9 percent and fatal collisions (1) are down 50 percent from 2018 to 2019.
• After a significant decrease from 2017 to 2018, bicycle injury collisions (17) increased by 36 percent from 2018 to 2019. That said, bicycle injury collisions have been trending downward over the past 10 years, with a decrease of 40 percent since 2015.

"We must stay vigilant,” said Police Chief Andrew Mills. “In addition to traffic enforcement, we're utilizing multiple departments in a concerted effort to improve roadway safety with Public Works, traffic engineering, and outreach from public safety partners countywide. Education continues to play a critical role alongside enforcement to make the City's roads safer for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.”

Santa Cruz Police Department traffic safety programs include:

• Patrols with emphasis on alcohol and drug-impaired driving prevention.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of California's hands-free cell phone law.
• Patrols with emphasis on education of traffic rights for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of primary causes of crashes: excess speed, failure to yield, failure to stop at stop signs/signals, improper turning/lane changes.
• Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted driving, DUI, speed, bicycle and pedestrian safety.
• Collaborative efforts with neighboring agencies on traffic safety priorities.
• Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).

This press release was produced by the City of Santa Cruz. The views expressed here are the author’s own.