San Luis Obispo recorded the lowest number of traffic accidents it has ever seen this past year, but bicycle-related accidents remain high compared to previous years.
Five hundred ninety-seven traffic collisions were reported last year, 85 less than in 2009, according to the San Luis Obispo 2010 Annual Traffic Safety Report. The reduction of traffic collisions is mainly attributed to the creation of the Traffic Safety Program.
The program began in 2002 with the goal to use engineering and enforcement to make the roads safer. Since the program was implemented, traffic accidents in San Luis Obispo have been reduced by 52 percent.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, the traffic collision rate in San Luis Obispo was steadily increasing.
At the time, San Luis Obispo didn’t have a way of determining how money should be spent to increase safety on the roads, according to traffic operations manager Jake Hudson.
“We developed a program to address the overall increasing collision rate and to optimize our money spending and to find out where high collision rates occur to spend our limited amount of funding,” Hudson said.
The Traffic Safety Program has had more than 200 projects including minor sign changes, new signal installations and new realignment of roadways, Hudson said.
Projects the program has done that promote safety include the re-alignment of Monterey Street and Buena Vista Avenue and signals placed on Broad and Pacific streets, as well as Johnson Avenue and Ella Street.
Despite the number of traffic collisions substantially decreasing, the number of documented bicycle collisions is higher than previous years.
In the 12 years that San Luis Obispo has been documenting traffic accidents, the number of bicycle collisions recorded last year was 13 higher than the average (56 bicycle accidents/year).
The number of bicycle collisions that year was the second highest documented since 1999. Motorists turning in front of cyclists and cyclists losing control of their bicycles were the two main reasons for bicycle related collisions in 2010.
Eighteen percent of bicycle related accidents occurred in 2010 because motorists made a left turn facing the bicyclist. When bicycles don’t act as cars is when accidents occur, Goodwin said.
“Most of bicycle collisions have to deal with a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk, or riding in the opposite direction on the road,” Goodwin said. “The bicyclist coming from the wrong way on the sidewalk, the car has no expectation of the bicyclist being there, and that’s when they get hurt.”
In order to reduce the number of traffic accidents, San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD) analyzes collisions and the cause of those collisions to determine where police enforcement should be higher, said Jancie Goodwin, a sergeant on the Traffic Safety Unit of SLOPD.
One intersection with repeated motorist accidents is Santa Rosa Street and Foothill Boulevard. In 2010, five traffic accidents were reported at this intersection.
“Santa Rosa and Foothill, where vehicle traffic comes in from the highway, we have a lot of rear-end collisions because people are driving fast and they aren’t prepared to stop,” Goodwin said. “So we would enforce radar and speed violations on that roadway.”
To help promote bicycle safety on Cal Poly campus, University Police Department commander Lori Hashim said that at the beginning of the year signs are placed at intersections with a cartoon message to remind bicycles to stop at the stop signs.
Students on campus can help keep the number of traffic accidents at a low number by paying attention to the road, Hashim said.
“Students should make sure they are paying attention and being alert,” Hashim said. “What we see is some on their cell phones or texting, or just not paying attention. Especially during midterms and finals week.”