TRAFFIC SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS

By Newell Arnerich

Mayor Arnerich, Bob and Carmen Pack and Mayor Abrams of San Ramon introduce new Streets Smarts traffic safety program throughout the San Ramon Valley.

This great town has a strong sense of community demonstrated by the warm and caring support given to Bob and Carmen Pack whose children were tragically killed by a reckless driver nearly a year ago. The recent fund raising event sponsored by the Troy and Alana Pack Foundation clearly demonstrated the generosity of the entire community. The Foundation's purpose is to make our community and state safer for our children so that this type of tragedy will not repeat itself. Sadly, another innocent victim lost his life due to another reckless driver running through a red light on Sycamore Valley Road. The Town Council and our staff have worked closely with the Packs to support legislative changes regarding DUI cases. The courts do not have the tools to enforce driver's license suspensions. Simply, regardless of the reason for a suspension, the driver is on the honor system to not drive, as there is no follow-up provided in current legislation. Unfortunately, the common denominator in both of these tragedies is that each driver had a common background with multiple drivers' license suspension, however, each for different reasons. In this area, Danville will continue to work with the Pack Foundation and our local legislators to correct this flaw in court enforcement.

The Town has implemented several programs to make our streets safer. First, the recently completed east side trail connecting Diablo Vista Middle School and the Tassajara shopping center and Diablo Vista Park provides a safe route for school children. The trail also provides safe pedestrian access for the surrounding neighborhoods to walk to the commercial area and connect to existing walkways to Diablo Vista Park. There are many more trail connections planned in Danville as part of our Trails Master Plan. I hope all of you will embrace these trial connections when they occur in you neighborhood. All of the trail projects in Danville have been very safe and successful for neighborhoods, while providing valuable `safe routes' for families and children.

Secondly, the Town has installed solar powered electronic speed warning signs at four locations on Camino Tassajara Road. These electronic signs have a red warning device that illuminates when a driver exceeds the speed limit providing immediate feed back that you need to slow down. We will be focusing on Sycamore Valley Road and other high traffic areas to install more of these warning signs in the near future.

The most significant change Danville has implemented towards the goal of driver awareness and traffic safety is the recently implemented Street Smarts Program. This program was lead by Danville with the full support and cooperation of the City of San Ramon, San Ramon Valley Unified School District and Supervisor Millie Greenberg's office. The true value of this campaign is that it targets and addresses the fundamental root cause of many traffic safety issues by addressing the source of the problem. There is too often a general lack of awareness + as illustrated by our daily attitudes and behaviors + of the impact of our actions behind the wheel on the lives of others. Another valuable aspect of this educational campaign is its comprehensive approach in targeting all users of our roadways ... the drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. The first year of the program will focus on elementary school education, then middle schools next year followed by introduction at the high schools in the third year. We hope to build a new generation of young people with increased driver safety awareness. So next time your child is in the car, do not be surprised if they remind you that your speedometer does not match the posted speed limit. Please drive safely and give a brake for the children.