Redwood City seeks to stem traffic collisions

A study session was held at the Redwood City Council meeting Monday, Sept. 29, at which city staff and elected officials looked at collected data gathered as part of the city’s Vision Zero strategy. 

The city has a goal to eliminate transportation-related fatalities and severe injuries by 2030, but that data point more than doubled between 2023 and 2024. 

Principal Transportation Planner Malahat Owrang gave a presentation on the ongoing safety improvements on which the city is working. There are 10 identified locations that are hot spots for collisions and were prioritized for improvements, and eight of those areas have projects either completed or in the works, Owrang said. 

Two remaining areas — Whipple Avenue between El Camino Real and Veterans Boulevard, and segments of Redwood Shores Parkway — are intended to be addressed within five years, Owrang said. 

Statistics presented to the City Council identified Redwood City as the third worst in California, compared against the 105 similarly populated cities, in terms of traffic safety, according to 2022 rankings by California’s Office of Traffic Safety. 

The biggest reasons for injury collisions between 2019 and 2024 were speeding, driving under the influence and failure to stop at red lights, according to Redwood City Police Department data. 

While human error and decision-making is often a critical aspect of these collisions, as noted by Police Chief Kristina Bell, infrastructure and enforcement can also play a factor, which is far more in the city’s control. 

Councilmember Isabella Chu, a vocal advocate for radical pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements, said she wants the city to think about traffic safety through a “hierarchy of controls.” 

A priority of the City Council should be on investing in engineered improvements that can stand the test of time and funding, Chu said. Increasing education and building awareness is the “least effective mechanism to improve road safety,” and should be considered secondary to physical measures and administrative decisions, she said. 

While securing funding for infrastructure improvements — such as new protected bike lanes, speed bumps, thinner lanes — is a growing difficulty for cities, Chu said once these things are built or implemented, they can last decades. 

“[A ballard or jersey barrier] doesn’t need a grant to continue to calm traffic,” Chu said. 

Enforcement was also a focus of the study session. Lt. Jesus Castro and Sgt. Peter Cang from the Redwood City Police Department also gave a presentation. 

While police enforcement can be preventative, it is often that traffic violations such as speeding or running red lights can only be addressed when they happen in front of officers. Some councilmembers shared they would be in favor of establishing red-light or speeding cameras should they be available. 

Redwood City once had red-light cameras, but dropped the program along with many other cities in the Peninsula after realizing they weren’t reducing accidents. San Francisco is currently piloting speeding-cameras, which if found to be successful after five years could make its way to other smaller cities. 

In regards to traffic safety improvements approved by the City Council going forward, Councilmember Marcella Padilla noted her desire to make sure community members, and residents in the neighborhoods addressed, are being heard. 

“I want to make sure at the heart whatever we do, we are actually talking to the communities around,” Padilla said.

Councilmember Chris Sturken said decisions will be a balance between residents’ desire and what the safety data shows. It’s “choosing to preserve lives over convenience,” he said.