| Enforcement - Traffic |
| from J Quan newsletter: 9-23-06 -Policing Staff Changes, New Problem Solving Officer
In the interim Sgt. Vierra will be acting Lieutenant. He can be reached at 777-8522. • New Problem Solving Officer: The newest class of graduating officers start September 26th. Officer Ryan Chan will cover Kami Jackson's area (who is out on medical leave) – Beats 22 X & Y (Dimond/Bretharte), 24X & Y (Allendale), and 25 X & Y (Laurel.) |
Email to head of planning from Lt Banks - Wlad, Attached is a letter that breaks down traffic enforcement conducted by the Looking at the stats, the majority of those cited are not from Oakland, and We will continue to monitor the area off and on as time and staffing Lt. Tony Banks During the month of August, the Traffic Division did an enforcement project on Skyline Blvd. This is in response to the fatal collision just east of Shepard Canyon Road and community request. The issues were cars and motorcycles speeding through Skyline Blvd, driving left of the solid double yellow lines, bicycles failing to yield the right of way, and failing to stop for the stop signs. Oakland Resident 22 non Oakland resident 16 Oakland resident Cars/Motorcycle cited 35 Cars 3 Motorcycles Male / Female 28 Males 10 Females Ages 18 40+ 10 30-39 8 18-29 1 < 18 1 unk. In order to keep the roadway safe, officers will continue to work enforcement in the area as time permits. Officers should check with traffic engineering to see if improvement can be made to the roadway as new technology come out. Contact the community to see if there are new trends occurring that officers can focus their enforcement efforts on. |
| Latest Update: TRAFFIC SAFETY • UPDATE 9.17.06 Reports from neighbors have indicated that although there has been improvement due primarily to various mitigating factors, certain individual m/c riders, as well as "Type-A" males and coffeed-up commuters, still still chose to push the limits of safety on Skyline, and vehemently assert their rights to violate the law. Racing has been observers, as well a road rage moment, involving an attempt to engage a street fight sparked when a citizen tried to convince a raging BMW-male crossing double yellows to pass at speed that he was driving in an unsafe manner. Weapons have have also been mentioned, though apparently none have been "drawn" so far. We are not aware of any actual use of weapons, and physical contact between perps and citizens, has not escalated into actual violence yet, nor are we aware of any addition fatalities thankfully. Lt. Banks forwarded the report above based on his findings in August. We hope this leads to initiative, partnering opportunities or other results that can keep whatever progress has occurred in play. note: Lt Banks 9/17 . report cites that only 3 m/c were cxited vs 35 cars. With regards to the enforcement program itself, we believe that it only occurred on 2 days during the period, with one additional day studying the Shep intersection mid-morning, a time when there virtually NEVER any speeding. We believe that the result of the study effort was to prove that there IS NO speeding and only people running stop signs. Possibly the m/c racers do not exist and we are hallucinating? One Enforcement day focused on crossing double yellow lines, and maybe speeding. That day included ironic incident wherein a m/c rider just ticketed at Skyline gate proceeded north to in turn be hit head on by a pick-up truck who illegally passed a car over the double-yellow in virtually the same spot Ed Weiss died. The second day of enforcement was targeting the "easy ticket" at the defectively engineered uphill stop of Shepard meeting Skyline. I witnessed tickets that were so borderline that it make citizens lose all faith in cops, and while rolling this stop-sign may be a technical infraction, and unsafe crossing of this intersection is a critical issue, these tickets in general appeared to be pointless, unfair, and likely to enrage the public in negative perceptions of OPD. Fortunately, this only occurred one bleak morning, and I am guessing blow-back stopped it. Why don't we just get traffic planning to re-engineer this defective intersection instead? (A - because it is like pulling teeth to make something like that happen) Regretfully, we are unaware of any concerted effort delivered against the speeding problem (the entire point of the community initiative) and we are likewise unaware of ANY serious take-downs of the m/c racers during the enforcement period. Does anyone know of ANY arrests for speeding/racing???? We understand the enforcement period is over, and that based on observations of the zeal by which certain racers take on the curves of Skyline, we believe that the racers continue to believe that Skyline is THEIR raceway, always has been, always will be. Citizens have mentioned using axes and taking the law into their own hands, and we hope it does not come to an outright war of the vigilante homeowner vs. the rice-rocketeers nor to again witness the ultimate sacrifice that Ed Weiss paid, though neither of those outcomes in the future would surprise this writer. |
| ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM OVERVIEW |
|
Enforcement action by OPD is consider primary to mitigate the dangerous conditions caused by racing and speeding on Skyline. While the mBikers are not the only violator, in fact, there are several other classes of chronic violators, we believe they should be on the short list for action as their actions have been flagrant, and the irresponsible riders among them are in some cases totally out of control - a danger to themselves, and others. As such we hope that fellow m/c can talk some sense into these riders before more incidents occur. further, they can be ID'd at the places where they are known to congregate, and communication can be given out in those locations to help dissuance them from choosing this area for racing. |
| Analysis of offender classes: 1) Motorcycle - Rice Rocket Drivers primarily - The worst of this groups truly believes that this area is for racing, that they have the right to do it, that it is somehow cool, and their testostorone somehow is satistifed only through this dangerous and criminal activity. We suggest the track. NOTE TO CARS: we are highly sympathic to the situation of cars not having awareness of m/c and cyclists - PLEASE pay attention, especially when turning left across traffic- not noticing an oncoming cyclist/m/c is one of the most common and often fatal accident with 2-wheel vehicles. 2) Commuters - high speed - via the "Skyline Freeway" -NOTE: this might me YOU! Residents of this area: In the AM especially, we observer numerous commuters driving at significantly higher than legal/safe speeds, under the influence of "coffee" and a "race to work-cellphoned" tension that reduces driver awareness to the equivalent of drunk driver in some cases. If this sounds at all like you, or anyone you may know, the please please SLOW DOWN. Skyline is NOT a commuter freeway, and you should instead drop to the 24 or other speeds designed for "the rush" and use them accordingly. SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS TO YOUR NEIGHBORS - WE ARE THE OFFENDERS IN MANY CASES HERE! 3) Commuters from/to Moraga on Pinehurst: Due to the tunnel nightmare and other factors, including enjoying high-speed driving on twisty roads, pinehurst has become a virtual freeway in the morning, If at all possible, we ask that people use the 24 and put up with the tunnel, rather than using this road - The Pinehurst section is a frequent bike route and dangers there are numerous. 4) Teenagers and "20-somethings" in their high-powered Subarus and 3 series BMW's in particular. This class of driver should not be driving these vehicles, and we hope enforcement can apprehend them ASAP - they race the Skyline circuit at their will, pass illegally in the intersection of Shepard, to drop down Pinehurst at speeds witnessed to 50 mph, which somewhat impresseive and no doubt fun, but outrageously dangerous given the blind intersection with Manzanita. While these vehicles are capable of these speeds by professional or highly focused drivers, to do this in an intersection with dog walkers and cyclists borders on the "criminally insane". If know these cars, if they are your children and who drives them - PLEASE STOP THEM! NOTE ON CYCLISTS: In case cyclists are not aware of this risk - when you are racing on Skyline, albeit only 25mph, you are often silent. This carries a special danger when a pedestrian is forced into the street due to a lack of shoulder/sidewalk for example. Coming around blind corner, we recomment HIGHLY that you somehow make noise of signal your approach - for the safety of everyone. We have had cases up here where cyclist have taken hostile attitudes against walkers who simply could not hear or see them coming/ BE ALERT TO THIS! |
| Enforcement Options and Ideas |
| Speed Cameras - used effectively in other countries and other US cities. Unattended, perfect for roads like Skyline where speeding is intermittent and police resources are unavailable. Pros - automated and unattended, targets the speeders, proven in other locals, visual signs make notice of cameras. Cons - cameras cost money, legality issue not certain, suseptable to vandalism, needs to be setup and maintained by the city... per dm/8-05-06 |