Berkeley Residents Grapple With Pedestrian Safety

During her three years at UC Berkeley, senior Alisa Arce has lost track of how many times she's nearly been hit by cars speeding down Bancroft Way.

Arce considers herself lucky-the city of Berkeley has the highest number of pedestrian injuries and deaths among 45 other California cities of comparable size, according to the state Office of Traffic Safety in 2000.

In a city where more than 20 percent of commuters either walk or bike to and from work, regard for pedestrian safety remains a steadfast concern.

One of Berkeley's main traffic safety problems is that smaller side streets are unable to handle congestion, diverting heavy traffic to a few larger streets, said Heath Maddox, associate transportation planner in the city's Office of Transportation.

"Many of our residential areas have speed bumps and road dividers, forcing people to drive only a select number of streets," Maddox said. "Those are often the locations that have the greatest number of accidents."

Many of these concentrated pockets are situated near popular student hangouts on Shattuck and Telegraph avenues, making pedestrian safety a major concern for students.

UC Berkeley senior Sigolene Ortega said crossing the street can often be a dangerous task because aggressive drivers do not respect pedestrians' right of way.

"Sometimes it can be frustrating to cross the street because some cars just won't stop," she said.

Ortega said increasing the number of push buttons at crosswalks and cameras at intersections may help enforce traffic laws among drivers.

However, automobile drivers are not entirely responsible for the high number of bicyclist and pedestrian accidents, said David Ragland, director of the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center, a campus-based organization working to improve traffic safety.

"People should be wearing bike helmets, and yet many people don't. Pedestrians don't obey crosswalk signals, or they cross in the middle of a residential street," Ragland said. "There is a joint responsibility for everyone involved."

Statistics naming Berkeley as a pedestrian danger zone do not reflect actual conditions because Berkeley has many more pedestrians compared to other cities, Maddox said.

"However, this doesn't change our desire to lower the relatively high number of collisions in the city," he said.

The city's transportation department made strides last week toward establishing a safer transit environment by introducing a new pedestrian and bicyclist-friendly trail in the city's northwestern sector.

The department is also developing a Pedestrian Master Plan to analyze and resolve common pedestrian problems in Berkeley.

Although the plan is still in its infancy, city officials signed a contract with Berkeley-based consulting firm Alta Planning and Design in May to begin creating an "Existing Conditions" report.

The report, which could later influence future transportation policy, will be the result of research conducted by the city into specific problem areas or general traffic issues in Berkeley. Research is slated to begin next month and is expected to last one year.

The plan will work in conjunction with the city's existing Bicycle Plan from 2000, which encourages bicycle travel in Berkeley through education programs, law enforcement and bikeway expansion.

Tags: