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Project
Characteristics |
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Education and
Enforcement
High Visibility
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Program
Areas |
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Occupant
Protection
Pedestrian/Bicycle Safety
Alcohol and Other Drugs |
Type of Jurisdiction |
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Municipality |
Targeted
Population |
General Population
High School Seniors
Grammar School Students |
Jurisdiction
Size |
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22,000
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Funding |
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OTS Grant:
$219,423
Agency Contribution: $72,228
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Contact |
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Sergeant Marc Farber
Millbrae Police Dept
581 Magnolia Avenue
Millbrae, CA 94030
(650) 259-9472
mfarber@ci.millbrae.ca.us
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Digest
Listing
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CALIFORNIA
Millbrae: Comprehensive Traffic
Safety Program
(PDF Version)
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The University of
California at Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies conducted an
enforcement analysis at the city’s request. The study showed that Millbrae
ranked 45th when compared to 111 other California cities its size in the
fatal and injury motor vehicle collisions category. Millbrae fared even
worse in the collision type known as “Had Been Drinking” (HBD) driver under
21, ranking third-highest out of 97 cities ranked. Millbrae also ranked
high in the killed and injured victim category among pedestrians 65 years
and over, ranking 26th out of 97 cities.
The four major collision
causes in Millbrae are speed, unsafe turning, failure to yield, and Driving
Under the Influence (DUI). Statistics from 1998 and 1999 indicate a 50
percent increase in speed-related injury collisions, and a 150 percent
increase in pedestrian-related injury collisions. Injury collisions
increased 37 percent between 1998 an 1999 and the number of victims from
these collisions increased 76 percent from 42 in 1998 to 74 in 1999.
The UC Berkeley study
recommended an additional officer for the Traffic Division. The study also
advised that the traffic units should focus enforcement efforts on
pedestrian and bicyclist violations on El Camino Real at Millbrae Avenue.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Comprehensive Traffic Safety Program’s goal is to reduce fatal and
injury collisions by 13 percent, reduce alcohol-involved fatal and injury
collisions by 100 percent, reduce the total number of pedestrians killed
and injured by 22 percent, and reduce speed-related fatal and injuries
collisions by 27 percent.
The
program’s intermediate objectives include:
seven special enforcement operations aimed at the drinking driver; six
aimed at pedestrian violations; and seven aimed at speed violations;
Conducting seven
highly publicized safety belt and child safety seat saturation operations;
Conducting nine
educational presentations called Dry2K, aimed at high school seniors; and
Holding five bicycle
rodeos (impacting 300 students) and five bicycle helmet inspections.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Comprehensive Traffic Safety Program addresses several traffic
problems contributing to injury collisions in Millbrae including speed,
DUI, and pedestrian right-of-way. The program implemented strategies and
activities to achieve its goals, including the following:
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Assigned a
fully-equipped Kawasaki police motorcycle and radio-ready helmet to a
traffic officer for enforcement purposes.
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Purchased a Kustom
Signals hand-held Lidar (laser) unit and assigned it to the Traffic
Division for enforcement purposes.
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Assigned officers to
patrol El Camino Real and Millbrae Avenue focusing on enforcing four major
collision causes: speed, unsafe turning, failure to yield and DUI.
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Conducted a pedestrian
decoy operation in which plain clothes officers walk in a crosswalk and
uniformed officers cite those drivers who fail to yield.
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Hosted several highly
publicized, multi-agency safety belt saturation operations, in which up to
20 officers issued citations to drivers not wearing safety belts.
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Partnered with Alcohol
Beverage Control (ABC) officers when conducting DUI saturation patrols,
allowing safety enforcement officers to learn about alcohol beverage laws
and bar inspections and ABC officers to learn about safety belt
enforcement.
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Conducted Dry2K
presentations to high school seniors teaching them the effects and
consequences of drinking and driving.
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Partnered with
community-based organizations to conduct bicycle rodeos and helmet
inspections at several grammar schools to educate students about bicycle
laws and safety.
RESULTS
The Comprehensive Traffic Safety Program has achieved the following
successes:
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Decreased total fatal
and injury collisions by 30.28 percent.
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Decreased pedestrians
killed and injured by 55.55 percent.
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Increased citations
issued for hazardous moving violations by 38.43 percent in 2003.
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Increased safety belt
compliance from 89 percent to 92 percent.
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Created Millbrae
Police Department’s first dedicated traffic division.
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