That is an excellent suggestion! A flashing crosswalk would be a huge help to keep our kids safe. One at Calhoun and High Street and one at Encinal and Court Street would make a big difference. Are there grant monies available through Safe Routes to Schools for this type of effort?

Hard +1 to this – I basically have to throw myself in front of cars at this intersection to get them to bother stopping. The right-hand-on-red folks just cruising through are perhaps the most dangerous. Given the proximity to an elementary school and a park, the lack of prioritization by the city regarding traffic easing is difficult to understand.

Crossing guard the district has plenty of money

I agree that a Crossing guard is a solution during the morning and after school time. But the problem continues on weekends and evenings, basically all day as it is near a major intersection. This intersection comes right after the High and Otis streetlights where most drivers have already been stopped at a light, so the idea of them stopping to be delayed again by a pedestrian is too much I guess. On the direction heading to Otis, drivers may be ignoring pedestrians in the crosswalk so they can make the green light on Otis. This intersection is also the entrance to Krusi park, so people are crossing here outside of school start and dismissal. So there are 2 reasons for this to be considered for a flashing crosswalk. I'm curious what the criteria was for both Lincoln and Lum to have them installed; possibly other schools that I'm not aware of.

I am a resident on Calhoun Street and Peach. I have 2 kids and one attends Otis. we frequently go to Krusi park. I would sign any petition to get a stop sign and street humps on high street near this intersection at high and Calhoun.
Drivers are careless and frequently speed. I wrote to the Alameda Traffic changes as well. I know there is a plan to make major changes around the city but I did not see anything around this area. Please, I beg you to consider making these changes before someone gets hurt.

Thank you.

Vision Zero committee, please be proactive and make the school and park intersections a priority BEFORE the area is flagged as a High injury corridor. The attached slide from your plan notes that 63% of crashes involving younger victims occurred near schools. Please prioritize High and Calhoun crosswalk as being near a school and park entrance.
Your current plan analyzes and reacts to areas where pedestrians have been hit. I’d prefer a more Proactive vs Reactive approach to focus on just those areas where an accident has occurred.

Thank you for reporting your concerns about street safety in Alameda, and for sharing your very relatable story. Your report will help inform the City of Alameda’s work to achieve our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries. We will use street safety reports, including yours, in combination with crash data and equity indicators to prioritize and design street safety investments. This evaluation will generally happen on an annual basis, with some exceptions for clear and pressing trends. Issues that the City deems to be immediate safety concerns will be elevated for quick action.

For more information and a list of current and planned transportation projects, see www.AlamedaCA.gov/SaferStreets

Can you share with us where you obtain the crash data and equity indicators from? I'm worried that we're looking to justify changes based on a history of tragedy vs. being proactive. I don't want to wait until someone speeding to work or racing their cars down to Fernside hit one of our kids to make this a priority.

Transportation Planning,

Thank you for acknowledging this issue. If necessary, please ask someone on the Vision Zero team to sit at the Krusi entrance to watch the driver patterns at this intersection, during school drop off, dismissal, evening commute and weekends. It will be clear that a flashing crosswalk would alert drivers to stop and not just let pedestrians (& school children) wait patiently until cars in both directions stop.
I know the City does not find ticketing enforcement to be revenue (as stated on the APD FB page re: recent calls for traffic officers), but possibly asking APD to station a motorcycle officer on Calhoun to remind drivers of the traffic law. Even a big huge yellow sign that says School crossing zone would be a plus vs. the little sign in the middle of the road that cars just plow down.

Thank you!!

In addition to my request for placing school crossing zone signs at the crosswalk, please escalate the repainting of the crosswalk in a fluorescent color to be an immediate safety concern.

@Lav, for more information about the data behind the Vision Zero Action Plan and the High Injury Corridors that it prioritizes, see the Ch. 3 of the Action Plan as well as Appendix F: Detailed Crash Analysis. Both can be downloaded here: www.alamedaca.gov/VisionZero#section-2

I passed along this report to APD.