Traffic Safety Petaluma Safe Routes to School W-Trans recently completed a report detailing Safe Routes to School plans for twelve elementary schools in the City of Petaluma. For this project, W-Trans staff performed site reviews at all twelve schools to identify existing traffic controls and pedestrian facilities, and prepared engineering recommendations for needed improvements. Recommendations were also made for enforcement and educational activities, and Safe Routes to School resources compiled for the use of educators. Safe Routes to School maps for each school were developed and are included in the report. Petaluma Safe Routes to School Report: Report (7MB .pdf) Appendix (6MB .pdf) (Click to view or right click and select "Save Target As" to download.) Tiburon School Safety and Operational Analysis Dalene Whitlock worked with the Tiburon Peninsula Traffic Committee to address widespread concerns about a number of traffic issues associated with local schools, including safety for pedestrians/bicyclists, congestion around the schools, and a desire to increase the number of students traveling via carpool, bicycle or on foot. On a broader scale, the committee also wished to develop measures to address aggressive driver behavior, and cultivate behaviors that were more reflective of their "village" atmosphere. The committee represented a cooperative and volunteer effort between the school district for the elementary schools, the local parochial school, the Town of Tiburon and the Tiburon Police Department and enjoyed enthusiastic participation from a cross-section of the community. Working with the community representatives, issues and concerns were identified for each of the four schools. With only one major route in and out of the Town, congestion is constant, and school traffic is perceived as a major contributor to the problem during the morning peak period. Additionally, each of the school sites suffers from some or all of the typical school traffic maladies, including a lack of adequate parking areas for use during drop-off/pick-up activities, the resultant congested conditions on adjacent residential streets and blocked driveways, and traffic speeding through residential neighborhoods to get to the schools. W-Trans developed recommendations to address the various concerns, and presented them in the Safety and Operational Analysis for Tiburon Schools. Safety Audits W-Trans has performed traffic collision investigations and road safety audits as unique projects or as tasks within other projects. W-Trans maintains and updates annually traffic collision databases for scores of agencies throughout Northern California. These databases permit the efficient evaluation of collision concentrations, patterns and factors which contribute to collisions. W-Trans staff's experience in working with engineering and enforcement agencies allows a broader examination of potential safety issues and solutions. Collision GIS Database Allan Tilton received the California Office of Traffic Safety's "Outstanding Achievement Award" in 2000 for linking collisions and citations to a GIS database. Mr. Tilton guides W-Trans' use of collision database systems such as the Crossroads software to identify collision concentrations and root collision precipitators.

© 2003 Whitlock & Weinberger Transportation, Inc.