Palo Alto City Council

City of Palo Alto

Palo Alto, CA 94301
Cc: James Keene, Dennis Burns, Curtis Williams

Subj: Traffic Accident History In Palo Alto (1995-2009) Used As A Basis

Of Traffic Policy And Engineering Decisions

Elected Council Members:

The most recent fatality of Caltrain, on 15 April 2011, at the Charleston/Alma at-grade
intersection,

coupled with the announcement of a Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan for Palo Alto causes this
resident to wonder if anyone at City Hall pays any attention to traffic accidents that occur
in our city, or has any thoughts about using the combined resources of the Palo Alto
Planning Department, the Palo Alto Police Department, the similar resources of Menlo
Park, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, the County of Santa Clara and San Mateo, and
Caltrans, to track the problem roads and intersections in our respective towns, and begin
to redesign these roads and intersections using state-of-the-art digital tools, such as digital
camera, microwave traffic monitors/counters, radar traffic enforcement equipment, traffic
simulation/modeling software, and historic traffic accident data that is available from
each of the local police departments, as well as the California Highway Patrol (CHP)?
Much to my chagrin, and disappointment, however, the City seems not to be aware of, or
particularly interested in, the problems facing motorists in Palo Alto (and adjoining
communities). What we citizens are confronted is a City Council/Administration that is
more interested in frivolity, than dealing with the hard issues of our day.

The following two items, having made their way into my in-box, demonstrate this
month’s flirtation with bicycles—

A) You’re invited to participate in the City’'s online community survey to weigh

in on short to medium range planning and initiatives that would encourage more
Palo Altans to bike or walk more places more often. Go
to http://surveymonkey.com/s/paloaltobikeped to provide your input!
==> Survey closes: Friday, April 29

B) Bicycle Boulevard Tour: Monday May 9, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Join Mayor Sid Espinosa, City Council Members, the City Manager and Planning
staff for an on-bike tour of the future Park Blvd Bike Boulevard. Tour starts and
ends at City Hall Plaza.

Palo Alto Traffic Accident History

While the Palo Alto Police Department has not made much effort to make traffic accident
data available, nonetheless, this data is available to the public via the CHP. The
following table, derived from CHP data, provides a short “history” of traffic accidents in
Palo Alto, ranked by the streets where these accidents occurred:

15-Year Traffic Accident History In Palo Alt

Primary Road 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
EL CAMINO REAL/RT
82 135 171 153 137 144 179 203 179 173 187 195 176
ALMA ST 104 125 94 116 86 79 112 79 90 102 83 77
UNIVERSITY AV 82 108 98 81 100 70 107 70 87 97 82 93
MIDDLEFIELD RD 80 105 108 95 95 88 112 88 93 87 70 66
EMBARCADERO RD 49 77 71 66 49 57 92 57 65 51 66 53
OREGON EXPWY 37 43 53 49 42 55 54 55 85 63 59 60
PAGE MILL RD 28 62 43 44 52 48 56 48 39 64 51 44
HAMILTON AV 24 22 17 19 16 22 20 22 25 20 25 21
ARASTRADERO RD 23 22 30 31 25 23 25 23 19 22 19 24
E BAYSHORE RD 23 26 24 30 26 18 29 18 24 22 16 20
LYTTON AV 19 18 17 11 13 17 23 17 25 16 14 14
E CHARLESTON RD 18 24 23 23 22 19 18 19 21 12 20 16
BRYANT ST 14 17 12 7 13 8 14 8 17 15 12 14
SAND HILL RD 13 19 27 19 29 25 24 25 15 24 21 17
HIGH ST 8 11 12 15 10 5 8 5 11 11 7 14
QUARRY RD 4 12 6 11 3 10 8 10 6 12 11 9
The graph below, provides the tabular data in a visual context--

E L CA M INO RE A L
P alo Alto T ra ffic Accid en t H isto ry F o r M ajo r S tre ets
A LM A S T
UNIV E RS ITY A V
250
M IDDLE F IE LD RD
200 E M B A RCA DE RO RD
Number of Accidents

O RE G O N E XP W Y
150 P A G E M ILL RD
HA M ILTO N A V
100
A RA S TRA DE RO RD
50 E B A Y S HO RE RD
LY TTO N A V
0 E CHA RLE S TO N RD
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 B RY A NT S T
1995-2009 T im e F ra m e S A ND HILL RD
HIG H S T
Q UA RRY RD

Since each traffic accident report generates 1-N records in the SWITRS database.
Tracking perhaps two hundred unique field values, this data offer a wealth of
information to those interested in traffic accidents, when analyzed.
 The following table provides the details of the total accident history for Palo Alto,
during the time frame of 1995-2009:

Fifteen-Year (1995-2009) Traffic Accident History Of Palo Alto

Year: 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 200
Accidents: 1041 1301 1176 1112 1048 1007 1320 1306 1194 1176 1105 1073 902 817 77
Injuries: 521 524 504 561 622 560 528 558 525 503 521 463 496 434 46
Deaths: 3 3 1 0 1 4 3 1 2 0 3 3 1 5
Ped. Deaths: 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
Ped. Injured: 30 30 29 29 21 37 18 27 24 25 32 33 18 24 2
Bike.
Deaths: 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Bike.
Injured: 101 78 61 80 95 70 74 67 57 55 85 62 64 65 8
MC. Deaths: 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MC. Injured: 13 16 10 5 17 16 11 16 9 13 9 4 8 6
Alcohol Inv.: 64 74 71 49 68 53 55 68 73 58 64 60 72 52 5
% Alcohol
Inv.: 6.1% 5.7% 6.0% 4.4% 6.5% 5.3% 4.2% 5.2% 6.1% 4.9% 5.8% 5.6% 8.0% 6.4% 7.1

This table of “details” is perhaps more telling than the “by street” accident data above. It
doesn’t take long to see that the predominant number of accidents, and accident-related
injuries, are associated with automobiles. As for bicycles, pedestrians and motorcycles,
the counts for these transportation modalities is much, much, lower than automobiles.

So, why does the City of Palo Alto seem so obsessed with “bicycles” and “pedestrians”—
at the expense of motorist safety? What makes bicycles, and bicyclists, more valuable to
the City Government, than motor vehicles and motorists?

General Decrease In Traffic Accidents

The data above, reinforced by the graph, shows that there has been an overall decrease in
traffic accidents in Palo Alto over the past fifteen years. While that must be seen as a
“good thing”, should not the Planning Department, the Police Department and the City
Council/Manager be aware of this data, at least on a year-to-year basis? Should not the
Planning Department, the Police Department and the City Council/Manager have some
idea what is driving increases, and decreases, in traffic volumes, and traffic accidents?
One can only ask: “where is this data on the City’s WEB-site?” The answer, sadly, is
that it is not there.

Importance of Vehicles vs Bicycles In Palo Alto

The fixation on “bicycles” in Palo Alto seems to ignore the fundamentals of our
economy, as well as our investment in private property and our independence, and
“space-oriented” culture. The general sense that one takes away from the City’s planning
activities is something akin to a dogma that “cars are bad and bicycles are good”. How
can this be, when there is a car in virtually every drive way in Palo Alto?

The following is a short exercise to judge an individual’s personal knowledge, and

preferences, towards transportation modalities. Please take a moment, and answer the
questions--

Comparative Benefits Of Vehicles vs Bicycles

Answer
Number of workers transported to jobs by cars
Number of workers transported to jobs by bikes
Sales tax generated for sale of vehicles
Sales tax generated for sale of bicycles
Sales tax generated for sale of gasoline
Road/use taxes generated by vehicles
Road/use taxes generated by bicycles
Peripheral business generated by vehicles
Peripheral business generated by bicycles

Preferred Mode of Transportation

By Homeowners
By Apartment dwellers
By People On Vacation
By People Seeking Emergency Medical
Attention
By People Wanting Home Delivery of
Appliances
By Companies wanting to deliver products to
customers
Number of Miles Driven By Motorists in Palo
Alto
Number of Miles Ridden By Cyclists in Palo
Alto

When the correct answers to these questions are referenced, would it be a surprise to
anyone that the importance of motor vehicles overwhelms the importance of bicycles in
our economy, and our lives, just as an ocean tsunami would overwhelm the waves of a
child in a wading pool?
Cost of Motor Vehicle Accidents

Another issue that is clearly needs review is: “what is the role of the Transportation
Department of the City’s “planning function”? Does this department have any
obligations to the residents, visitors, and business owners to design the safest streets
possible? Does the Transportation Department have an obligation to monitor traffic in
Palo Alto, to recognize trends, and to initiate corrective action at the earliest date possible
—in order to contribute to the prevention of accidents, injuries, loss of life, and all of the
economic, and personal, damage that is attendant to vehicle collisions? Or does the
Transportation Department simply have a charter to “do what it wants”?

While vehicle accidents often make the front page of local newspapers, the total cost of
these accidents is almost never included in these “if it bleeds, it leads” kinds of stories.
Understandably, the costs of an individual accident could well be so distributed in terms
of outlays (hospitals, outpatient care, lawyers/court fees, lost productivity, property
damage, etc), not to mention public costs (often referred to as “externalities”), such as
police, first responder, and other staff time.

This kind of data does eventually emerge, however, as subsequent legal action requires
that best estimates, or actual costs, for the injured parties, be delivered to the Court for
deliberation. The following data was found on the WEB-site of a accident litigation
attorney. While the sources of this data are not available, it is believed that the numbers
below are “in the ball park”, where traffic accidents costs are concerned--

Motor vehicle accident average costs:

• Average cost for each death in a motor vehicle accident: $1,130,000
• Average cost for each nonfatal disabling injury: $61,600
• Average cost for each property damage crash (includes non-disabling injuries): $7,500

Motor vehicle accident costs by severity:

• Average economic cost for incapacitating injury crash: $65,000
• Average economic cost for non-incapacitating evident injury crash: $21,00
• Average economic cost for possible injury crash: $11,900

The above numbers only take into account the economic impact of motor vehicle
accidents. To properly value the true cost of an accident including a measure of the value
of lost quality of life, the National Safety Council came up with different numbers.

Average comprehensive cost of motor vehicle crashes per injured person:

• Comprehensive cost of a death: $4,100,000
• Comprehensive cost of an incapacitating injury: $208,500
• Comprehensive cost of a non-incapacitating evident injury: $53,200
• Comprehensive cost of a possible injury: $25,300
• Comprehensive cost of no injury: $2,300
Certainly it would pay for someone at City Hall to make an effort to determine the costs
of vehicle accidents over the years, and then examine the “hot spots” where accidents
occur in the greatest numbers—making a concerted effort to identify any problems with
these “hot spots”, and applying “best practices” traffic engineering principles, where
appropriate. But will they? Can anyone at City Hall claim that this approach is currently
being practiced?

It is clear that the number of vehicle accidents greatly outpaces bicycle accidents. While
generally quite low in number, vehicle deaths/injuries exceed bicycle and pedestrian
deaths/injuries—so much so that one can only wonder how the City believes that the
millions of dollars it intends to spend on bicycle/pedestrian safety “planning” and
construction projects will result in a reduction of deaths/injuries to justify these costs? In
short, what cost/benefit analysis can the City produce to justify these expenditures?

Statewide Vehicle Data

The following table, published by the CHP in 2008, contains the data about motor
vehicles that everyone involved with public policy making should be fully cognizant:

TABLE 1E POPULATION, MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION, MOTORCYCLE REGISTRATION, LICENSED

DRIVERS,
LICENSED MOTORCYCLE DRIVERS, MOTOR VEHICLE MILES OF TRAVEL, AND MILEAGE DEATH RATE
1999 - 2008

Motor Licensed
Vehicle Motorcycle Motorcycl Mileage
Populatio Registrati Registratio Licensed e Motor Vehicle Death
Year n on n1/ Drivers Drivers2/ Miles of Travel Rate4/
34,036,0 23,747,49 21,034,69 299,577,000,0
1999 00 4 413,676 0 844,011 00 1.19
34,480,0 24,714,59 21,404,10 306,371,000,0
2000 00 5 450,030 0 864,836 00 1.22
34,758,0 25,472,63 21,977,70 314,550,000,0
2001 00 0 495,271 0 906,144 00 1.25
35,301,0 26,488,55 22,605,80 320,874,000,0
2002 00 3 536,060 0 948,277 00 1.27
35,934,0 26,420,43 22,687,10 324,087,000,0
2003 00 8 569,226 0 975,681 00 1.30
36,590,8 28,258,34 22,843,20 1,015,48 328,255,000,0
2004 00 1 641,905 0 8 00 1.25
37,004,7 28,129,82 22,927,34 1,055,37 327,500,000,0
2005 00 2 680,857 9 0 00 1.31
37,444,4 28,705,18 23,237,08 1,109,37 329,700,000,0
2006 00 4 732,547 7 4 00 1.27
37,771,4 28,908,96 23,629,86 1,161,86 330,140,000,0
2007 00 4 772,524 0 6 003/ 1.205/
38,148,4 28,663,72 23,718,99 1,211,84 325,750,000,0
2008 93 9 824,244 2 8 004/ 1.04

1/
Motorcycle Registration is also included in Motor Vehicle
 Registration.
2/
Licensed Motorcycle Drivers are included in Licensed
Drivers.
3/
The 2007 figure has been updated from the previously published number and the
2008 vehicle miles of travel is an estimate.
Source: California Department of Transportation.
4/
Number of persons killed per 100
million miles of travel.
5/
Revised from previously publish number due to update to vehicle miles
of travel for 2007.

Note 1 —The media could benefit from paying attention to this data also.

Note 2—There is no bicycle-related data in this table, such as “miles ridden”. Of course,
if the State Legislature were to mandate that bicycles be outfitted with GPS locators, that
determine the miles ridden, and require that bicycle owners upload their riding mileage to
the CHP, then this sort of data might appear in the future. However, it is predicted that
the number of files ridden on bicycles will never approach that driven by motorists.

What Needs To Be Done

Palo Alto City Government needs to consider, and act, on the following points—

 Create a Motorists Advisory Council

 Use historic traffic accident data to track accidents and accident “hot spots”.
 Publish traffic accident data on-line at least monthly.
 Install surveillance cameras at “hot spots” to provide police and traffic planners
detailed information of traffic patterns, and possibly details of accident events.
 Coordinate with other municipal jurisdictions, sharing data, tools, and proposed
solutions to problems.
 Make reducing traffic accidents a long-term council commitment,
 Participate with other municipalities to investigate computer-based vehicle
navigation systems—such as have been demonstrated by Google and Stanford
University.
Conclusion

Motor vehicles are critical to our way of life, to our very existence. Bicycles are NOT!
Bicycles are convenient for children to go to school, and for some people to use to run to
the store for whatever can be carried on one’s back—but not much more. Certainly
bicycles are not safe in inclement weather, not the kind of transportation one would seek
when going to the Emergency Room, seeking emergency medical care or to ride for any
distance.

This fixation on bicycles by the Palo Alto City government is both unrealistic, and from
the clear evidence of accidents in our town—unhealthy. The City Council has an
obligation to all of the residents, to seek, and approve, policies, including the use of
public funds, that benefit all of us—not just the few that “have the Council’s ear”.

The costs of motor vehicle accidents have easily exceeded $200M over the past fifteen
years, here in Palo Alto. These costs must be paid by all of us in terms of higher taxes
and higher insurance premiums. It is hard to believe that a few well-spent millions on
intelligent, and appropriate, road monitoring and redesign, would benefit all of us, one
way or another. Money spent on bicycle paths, or “boulevards” will benefit very few
people, diverting needed funds from our streets and roads.

It is high time to use the historic traffic accident data, not emotional appeals from a
handful of people who have no idea what the data makes very clear. Council Members—
it is time to return to reality, and stop endorsing, and funding, this silliness.

Wayne Martin
Palo Alto, CA
www.twitter.com/wmartin46
www.scribd.com/wmartin46
www.youtube.com/wmartin46

PS—This communication is in no way an endorsement of road downsizing.

On-The-Net:
http://www.tavss.com/library/va-nc-lawyer-economic-and-comprehensive-auto-accident-
costs.cfm