PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Sacramento, California historically has directed the majority of their traffic safety efforts toward the most heavily traveled type of street, the arterial. However, as traffic has increased on arterial streets, more traffic has diverted to neighborhood streets, raising safety concerns in the affected neighborhoods. Neighborhood streets were not engineered to accommodate this increase in traffic (and higher speeds of travel), nor were residents prepared for the dangers to neighborhood pedestrians and bicyclists. (In 1992, pedestrians represented 30 percent of all traffic fatalities in the city.) As traffic has increased in neighborhoods, residents have demanded a higher level of attention to their traffic safety concerns which, if properly addressed, would further strain already overburdened city resources.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) was to increase safe traffic practices in Sacramento's neighborhoods, supported by the following objective: to develop a multi-year plan of engineering, education and enforcement activities that addresses traffic safety.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program was developed in fiscal year 1996, involving eight neighborhoods through which the multi-year, multi- phased program was tested. The several phases of the program included:

• Involvement of the Sacramento neighborhoods in development of the NTMP
• Development and delivery of training in implementation of the NTMP for neighborhood leaders
• Design and production of educational materials for the NTMP's Traffic Management Class
• Development and production of educational materials for the NTMP's Traffic Campaign

The eight neighborhoods that represented the pilot program effectively used a combination of engineering strategies, enforcement activities, and educational programs to address the traffic safety problems characteristic of each neighborhood. Speed limits were decreased from 35 miles per hour (mph) to 25 mph; a mobile radar speed display board was employed to curb speeding; new stop signs and crosswalk signs were installed in several locations; delineators were placed along the edges of some streets to increase their visibility; block parties were held in the eight neighborhoods as a public education tool; and enforcement was increased in areas with newly-installed engineering solutions.

In November 1997, as the pilot neighborhoods were completing the final phases of their efforts, kick-off meetings were held for the next eight neighborhoods. City engineers are confident that the experiences of the pilot neighborhoods will be instrumental in helping the next eight areas achieve the traffic safety goals for their own neighborhoods.