Claremont Insider: Traffic N Trans
Showing posts with label Traffic N Trans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traffic N Trans. Show all posts

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Anatomy of An Accident

10TH STREET ACCIDENT UPDATE

Click to Enlarge

The Claremont Courier reported yesterday on the details of last week's accident at Indian Hill Blvd. and 10th Street. The Courier confirmed that five-year-old Noah Witt is out of intensive care now but remained at Pomona Valley Hospital.

The Courier article, by Tony Krickl, also said that neighbors and parents of children at Sycamore Elementary are working to try to get the City to make the intersection safer. Krickl described the intersection's history:
The city is well aware of the dangers at Indian Hill Boulevard and 10th Street. In 1996, Fred Neal, a retired professor from Claremont Graduate University, was killed while crossing at the same intersection. Neighbors complain they hear weekly screeching of tires and witness near miss collisions. They say that lighting and blocked views from the rows of trees that line the street can make turning onto Indian Hill difficult.

The intersection sits at the northwest corner of Memorial Park, with students and park goers often using the crosswalk to traverse Indian Hill Boulevard. The current speed limit on that stretch of Indian Hill is 30 miles per hour, but neighbors say drivers are regularly seen speeding or talking on their cell phones while zipping by.

In July 2001, the city installed flashing pavement lights on the crosswalk that are activated by a push button on either side of the 10th Street. Questions about the light's effectiveness and overall safety at the crosswalk have come up at a couple different city forums over the years, most recently at the Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting in January 2009.

Regarding the crosswalk system's maintenance, one of our readers wrote in earlier this week and said that the button on the intersection's southwest corner wasn't working just a few nights before the accident. So much for the crosswalk's pedstrian-activated flashing lights. Coincidentally, this is the same corner the pedestrians who were hit on Thursday were crossing from.


A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

JANUARY, 2001

We decided to look back at the history of the 10th Street crosswalk. The matter of installing the current in-pavement flashing light system came before the Traffic and Transportation Commission on January, 25, 2001. As you might expect, the staff report, by City Engineer Craig Bradshaw, laid out some very rational arguments for why he was recommending installing the crosswalk system:
SUMMARY

The Traffic and Transportation Commission TTC recently approved a city-wide crosswalk policy. One of the unprotected crosswalks that met the criteria of the new policy to stay in place is the Indian Hill Boulevard crosswalk at 10th Street. Since the crosswalk is staying in place and is located on a busy street near large pedestrian traffic generators it is desirable to provide additional safety measures. The two pedestrian safety features being recommended for the Indian Hill Boulevard crossing are the in-pavement warning lights and self-flagging. These features have proven successful in improving pedestrian safety in locations where pedestrian lights are not warranted. Staff recommends that the Traffic and Transportation Commission direct staff to install the crosswalk warning system utilizing in-pavement flashing lights and self-flagging at the crosswalk located on Indian Hill Boulevard at 10th Street and return this item to the Commission in six months for further review.

As with any Claremont staff report, it included some marketing material from the system's manufacturer that touted the wonders the crosswalk system would work in improving pedestrian safety.

The minutes show commission voted 5-0 (two members were absent) in favor of the system. Some familiar names popped up. The commission's Vice-Chair at the time was Tim Worley, who pops up again and again on local issues. At that time he was a traffic expert. Now he is a water expert. Worley presided over that meeting on 1/25/01 because the commission chair was absent.

Another person who is listed in the minutes is then-Traffic Commissioner Ellen Taylor. Taylor, who seemed to be on the commission primarily as a resume builder for her city council candidacy in 2005, made the motion to go forward with the in-pavement lighting system. Apparently, she liked the marketing materials provided by Bradshaw.



JULY, 2001

The Traffic and Transportation Commission minutes for June 28, 2001 (page 9), state that City Engineer Bradshaw reported that the in-pavement lighting system installation at 10th Street would be complete by the first week of July. Bradshaw promised that staff would come back to the commission with a report on the crosswalk's effectiveness after six months.


2002

We checked the Traffic and Transportation Commission minutes from November, 2001, to December, 2002, but did not see where Bradshaw made his six-month report on the crosswalk to the commission.


2003-2004

At some point in this period, accident victim Noah Witt was born.


SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 2005

The 10th Street crosswalk did make it back to the Traffic and Transportation Commission almost four years after it was installed. On September 22, 2005, Craig Bradshaw presented a report on city staff's findings. Bradshaw's report said:
SUMMARY

As a means of improving pedestrian safety at the intersection of Indian Hill Boulevard and Tenth Street in-pavement crosswalk lights were installed in July 2001 along both edges of the southerly crosswalk to provide improved visibility of the crosswalk to approaching drivers. The lights are connected to a pedestrian actuated push button and flash when pedestrians push the button before crossing the street. Staff has received substantial feedback since the installation of the pedestrian lights with most of the feedback being negative in nature and combined with requests that the crosswalk lights be removed. In reviewing the pedestrian lights and whether they are serving the safety function for which they were originally installed staff believes that the pedestrian lights may be creating a false sense of security and a potential safety concern for pedestrians.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Based on feedback from the public and staff findings it is recommended that the Traffic and Transportation Commission determine if it is appropriate to remove the crosswalk lights at the intersection of Indian Hill Boulevard and Tenth Street.

According to the minutes for the 9/22/05 meeting, Tim Worley, like any Claremonster, was averse to reversing a decision. Rather than going with the staff recommendation to remove the crosswalk, he moved for two alternative choices to try to keep the lighted crosswalk in place with some adjustments. Worley also moved that commission ask staff to obtain more information and report back to the commission. The commission unanimously approved Worley's motion.



At the 10/27/05 meeting, staff came back to the commission with the supplementary information Worley had asked for:
3. Indian Hill Boulevard and Tenth Street Review of In-Pavement Crosswalk liqhts continued from September 22, 2005

Associate Engineer Loretta Mustafa gave an updated staff report She stated that the commission had recommended that the in pavement lights remain in place but wanted additional information to make the intersection safer and the crosswalk more visible. She reviewed the measures included in the report of some of the measures that have been or will be implemented. Staff has met recently with manufacturers that are looking at some new pedestrian signage LED signs that could be possibly wired into the pedestrian push button which will light up at the same time as the lights in the crosswalk. Staff has talked to Human Services Department about relocating the banner and will be pursuing handing out pamphlets at community events and educate the residents to make that crosswalk safer and more successful.

The commission received and filed the report, which also recommended seven measures for improving the crosswalk's visibility and effectiveness. The report said the matter would come back to the commission for review in one year.


2006-2009

We checked the agenda materials for City Engineer Bradshaw's one-year, follow-up review, but we couldn't find a record of that.

As we wrote last week
, the matter did come back to the commission in January this year with a recommendation that the in-pavement system be removed. The commission directed staff to do an initial study under the California Environmental Quality Act, but there was no timeline on that. Those studies have various boxes to check off and include some sort of traffic analysis to justify the proposed change.

We wonder if the box for "five-year-old hit" gets checked.

To recap: January 2001 - crosswalk system approved; July, 2001 - crosswalk system installed; 2001-2005 - complaints pile up, staff recommendation to remove crosswalk system; January, 2009 - commission asked to approve crosswalk system removal, initial study requested; May 14, 2009, pedestrians struck.

Claremont: Competence in Action.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Yesterday's Indian Hill Accident - UPDATED

Accident Victims Kin to Senior City Staffer

UPDATED, 2:45pm - Courier reporter Tony Krickl reports that the victims in yesterday's automobile/pedestrian accident in Indian Hill were identified as Barbara and Noah Witt, the wife and son of Claremont Community Development Director Tony Witt. Krickl reports that Mrs. Witt was treated and released last night.

Krickl continues, "
Five-year-old Noah was transported to another hospital where he is being treated in a pediatrics intensive care unit. He's listed in stable condition after suffering some chest and head trauma".

We join the Claremont community in offering our prayers and best wishes to young Noah Witt and to the entire Witt family.

June 11, 2008 Courier photo of Noah Witt, left, and older brother Josh by Gabriel Fenoy

* * * * *


UPDATED, 7:30am - We've gone back and added in the discussion from January over the crosswalk at 10th and Indian Hill.

A reader wrote in to ask about the commotion at Indian Hill Blvd. and 10th St. yesterday afternoon. Turns out there was a very bad accident at the intersection around 3pm. The Claremont Courier's Tony Krickl writes on his blog that a boy and his mother were crossing Indian Hill and were struck by a car.

According the Krickl, the woman was in stable condition, but the boy had to be airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center. The Courier will undoubtedly have more on Saturday. Krickl may also update his blog post. One of the post's comments from last night said in part:
Tony, I was coming home from dinner tonight and stopped and spoke with one of the Claremont police officers at the scene around 7:30. He indicated that he too had heard the boy was in good condition, considering....

The accident appears to have occurred at the northwest corner of Memorial Park in the Claremont Village. There's a flashing crosswalk there with yellow, in-ground LEDs. There have been some complaints about the crosswalk, and on 1/22/09, the matter came before the City's Traffic and Transportation Commission with the recommendation that the blinking ground-level lights be replaced with a pedestrian-activated overhead flashing beacon:

Click to enlarge


According to the minutes for that 1/22/09 Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting, staff wanted to change the crosswalk because there has been litigation in other cities over the LED system. The complaints we've heard have been pretty much the same: some drivers just don't see the lights. This may be what has been at the center of the litigation.

At the 1/22/09 meeting, the commission voted 6-1 to continue the matter because of lack of notice. Apparently, under California Environmental Quality Act rules the issue requires an initial study, which hasn't been done yet.

The minutes for that January meeting outline the discussion that took place:
3. Indian Hill Boulevard at Tenth Street Pedestrian Signal and Lights Update

Senior Civil Engineer Loretta Mustafa presented her report and provided background information on the matter. She gave a brief update on the in pavement crosswalk lights. She stated that since it has been installed there were a lot of concerns with the lights. Staff recommends to remove the in pavement lights and install overhead beacons. She stated that drivers are not used to seeing lights in the ground they are more used to seeing at eye level or up above. Other cities are removing these devices because of litigation issues regarding maintenance. We would like to continue this item to the next Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting to allow to notice 300-foot radius but will receive public comment tonight.

Commissioner Salas commented that it was a great system and was self explanatory. His only concern is the trees overgrowing. He also recommended that parents at Sycamore be notified along with the 300-foot radius.

Commissioner Brunasso thought it was a good idea that signage be placed further up the street to let them know a crosswalk is up ahead.

Chair Poy opened the public comment.

J. Monroe believes a car is a guest in this community, far too many people have not come to this realization. There is nothing to ameliorate the speeds of vehicles from Foothill to Eighth Street. Getting to cross the street to get to the park requires pedestrians to go to 8th Street.

Ray Fowler, representing Protect Our Neighborhoods, believes if Judy Wright is behind it must be a good idea. He believes that flashing lights may be detrimental to the environment and have an adverse effect to a historical neighborhood district. There is nothing more detrimental than a blinking light in the night. He indicated that he was not sure if this would be exempt from CEQA requirements.

Carolyn Monroe stated that she has lived on Indian Hill for 31 years and has seen a lot of traffic. She advocates more Police Department patrolling because they can cite a lot of speeders.

No one else wished to speak. Chair Poy closed the public comment.

Commissioner Salas moved that the Traffic and Transportation Commission continue the item for lack of proper notification seconded by Commissioner Brunasso and carried on the following vote.

AYES - Commissioners Rinde, McLoughlin, Salas, Poy, Gonzalez, Brunasso
NOES - None
ABSTAINED - Commissioner Cole

The crosswalk matter has been listed as an upcoming agenda item for the Traffic and Transporation Commission ever since 1/22/09. No word of if staff had started the CEQA initial study prior to yesterday's accident.

Here's the latest agenda for the 4/23/09 meeting. The crosswalk is item B at the end of document.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A Piece of His Mind

Reading the lengthy agenda item for tonight's City Council meeting on the subject of Claraboya/Johnson's Pasture parking, we were struck by this paragraph from the June 30, 2008, Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting (at page 34 of 36 of the aforesaid agenda report).

We wonder: Did he have much to spare?

The commissioner, Chaim Rinde, is the husband of local realtor Malka Rinde. Both were Ellen Taylor supporters in the 2005 election.