Neighborhood Traffic Control Plan:
Education Component
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CALIFORNIA
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PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS |
PROGRAM AREA(S) |
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High media visibility |
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Injury Prevention |
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Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population |
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TYPE OF JURISDICTION |
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City |
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TARGETED POPULATION(S) |
JURISDICTION SIZE |
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General Population |
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380,000 |
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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The City of Oakland, California
is the third most populous city in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Area; and is the hub of the East Bay, offering many and various
business opportunities and social amenities. However, the opportunities
offered by the Oakland area also present traffic safety challenges
to the city's neighborhoods. Many commuters, on their way to work
use Oakland's residential streets to connect with major arterials
and freeways, frequently at high speeds, endangering the safety
of neighborhood residents.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Neighborhood Traffic Control Plan was the prevention
of injuries and fatalities resulting from unsafe traffic practices.
In addressing this goal, the city adopted the following objective:
develop a multi-year, three component plan of engineering, education,
and enforcement activities that address traffic safety.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Neighborhood Traffic Control Plan was developed early in 1994
from a series of community meetings where the problem of traffic
safety was addressed, and solutions to the problem were proposed.
A three-year plan was adopted by the Oakland City Council that
applied engineering, enforcement, and education strategies to
solve the city's traffic problems. The Education Component of
the plan was initiated in 1996 and funded through a grant from
the California Office of Traffic Safety. Oakland employed a number
of activities designed to meet the goals and objectives of this
component:
- Traditional public campaign tactics
were employed to reach motor vehicle operators
- Informational brochures encouraging
responsible driving were designed and distributed at many public
events, along with promotional giveaways
- Brochures and posters were designed
in three languages other than English. Approximately 17,500 of
these materials were distributed, in combination with approximately
15,000 promotional giveaways
- Pedestrian and bicycle safety training
was provided to elementary school children. A small-scale model
of a typical urban street was built (Safe Moves City) for this
training, which included pavement markings, traffic signals,
stop signs, railroad crossings, and store fronts
- Traffic safety training was provided
to 75 senior citizens using the Safe Moves City model, combined
with workshop training
- A total of 6,000 elementary school
children participated in six bicycle safety rodeos
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RESULTS
The Education Component of
the Neighborhood Traffic Control Plan ended in September, 1997,
after 18 months. Formal evaluations of the three component plan
are currently underway. A sampling of "before and after"
data from the engineering component of the plan show initial
dramatic improvements in traffic safety statistics:
- In 31 residential blocks located
in a community where speed bumps had been installed, a comparison
of data from two years prior to installation to two years after
installation showed a 33 percent reduction in traffic crashes,
a 28 percent reduction in speed-related crashes and a 71 percent
reduction in injuries
- In a random sampling of 27 blocks
parallel to speed bumps, data indicated a 24 percent reduction
in traffic crashes, a 61 percent reduction in speed-related crashes
and a 28 percent reduction in injuries
- Traffic data from 26 locations where
stop signs were installed or upgraded showed a 70 percent decrease
in crashes
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FUNDING |
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Section 402: |
$89,000 |
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CONTACT |
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Iyackuddy Jeeva, Ph.D.
Supervising Transportation Engineer
Traffic Engineering and Parking Division
City of Oakland
1333 Broadway, Room 230
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 238–3466 |
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
Spring 1998 |
