San Mateo identifies pedestrian hot spots

“I feel like we are making very good strides in terms of getting that data so we can act upon it and meet what everybody’s goal is here, and that’s to reduce these accidents and make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians,” Rodriguez said.

At the council’s behest, staff analyzed pedestrian collision data to identify San Mateo traffic trends for potential improvements and intersections with the most pedestrian collisions. Senior Engineer Bethany Lopez said more than 75% of pedestrian collisions in San Mateo are driver violations, with the majority happening at locations with higher vehicle volume.

“Pedestrian right-of-way collisions, or collisions where motorists failed to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian, accounts for the majority of pedestrian collisions,” Lopez said.

According to Lopez, the top pedestrian collision area was at East Poplar Avenue and North Humboldt Street, with six total collisions and one fatality or major injury collision. El Camino Real and 22nd Avenue saw four collisions with two fatal and major injury collisions, while El Camino Real and Second Avenue and El Camino Real and Tilton Avenue each had four collisions. Peninsula Avenue and North Delaware Street had three collisions and one fatality. Most of the collisions were due to left turns. Public Works spokesperson Kellie Benz said that the data was from January 2017 through December 2020.

The city has a targeted action plan to improve intersections with protected left turns, yield to pedestrian signs, leading pedestrian intervals and high-visibility crosswalks. A leading pedestrian interval gives a pedestrian a few seconds to enter an intersection before vehicles get a green light, reducing pedestrian collisions. El Camino Real intersections are Caltrans owned, and the city has submitted requests to implement a leading pedestrian interval.

“Most of these involve adding signage and high-visibility stripping as well as modifying traffic signal timing to implement leading pedestrian intervals. This is the same type of pedestrian timing installed in the downtown a number of years ago,” Lopez said.

While the initial findings identified top pedestrian collision locations, the data showed pedestrian collision locations are very sporadic.

Rodriguez noted that one of the council’s priorities discussed in January for solutions was reducing speed limits by schools and perhaps beyond schools. Rodriguez asked if that would help in reducing pedestrian collisions and if data analysis looked at collisions in proximity to schools.

Lopez said the majority of collisions were at or near signalized intersections or higher volume roads and that collision data didn’t identify if these were school-aged pedestrians.

“However, I will note, I think we have discussed internally that we are looking at the effort to reduce speeds in and around schools already, and there are going to be some findings that need to be made for that. I think that’s something that we are planning to bring back to council,” Lopez said.

Councilmember Amourence Lee agreed.

“I wanted to underscore my support for the study of the reduced speeds around schools. I look forward to that coming back to us,” Lee said.

San Mateo is now developing a Local Roadway Safety Plan with state grant funding to identify traffic safety problems and recommend improvements. The plan would finish in fall 2022 and analyze types of collisions, prioritization areas and offer data-driven recommendations for improvements. It would be implemented into a Complete Streets Plan, aimed at accommodating all road users.

The Police Department has also held April traffic enforcement operations throughout the city to issue citations to vehicle and pedestrian violators. The department also restructured its traffic program in January to have full coverage Monday through Friday during peak commute hours. Police traffic numbers found there were 49 pedestrian-related traffic collisions in 2019, an increase of 2016 numbers of 24.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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