Public safety experiment is fatally flawed

Mark Atherton

On Sept. 27, the city council voted to raise the speed limit on Springer Road so that the speed limit is closer to the actual speeds driven with the hope that police will be able to effectively use radar and control speeding on Springer. The measure will be in effect for 6 months after which they will determine next steps.

The city has allowed the fastest drivers to set the limits. This is the equivalent of having the drunkest of drunk drivers set the standard for driving under the influence.

The council characterized the effort as an “experiment” to see what would happen. This experiment is fatally flawed. Springer Road feeds five Los Altos schools: Almond, Springer, Loyola, Covington and Blach. This is not a road for experimentation. The council and the traffic commission acknowledged that the real answer to lowering speed and increasing safety is to change the characteristics of the street. However, the budget was cited as the challenge. Maybe the city doesn’t have the resources to apply the same drastic changes that were done on Berry, but we can apply the lessons learned and use some combination of additional stop signs, planting areas or other measures that might not cost millions but would impact speed by giving the perception of a narrower street thereby lowering speeds.

I have little faith in the “experiment” the council has set into motion. The centerpiece of this experiment is enforcement. Unfortunately, the city doesn’t have the resources or manpower to address enforcement at key times when safety is the biggest concern- during school hours- especially in the morning.

If the city doesn’t have the means to address the issue in a way that is proven - change the characteristics of the street - it is simply irresponsible to gamble with public safety. The subjects of this “experiment” are school children, traffic guards and pedestrians. Do it right or don’t do it.

Against raising Springer speed limit

John Ciacchella

I want to let you all know, again, that like most of the residents in your city, I am firmly against raising the speed limit on Springer Road. I am continually shocked that you all continue to consider this proposal as one that is valid to pursue.

Just about all the residents in the city are against raising the limit.

The logic being presented (that officers cannot give tickets using radar because the 85th percentile is higher than 25 mph) is also not true. Tickets can always be given for exceeding the posted speed limit. There may be selected cases in which a well-prepared defendant goes to a “friendly” judge who may revoke the citation based on statistics; but in the vast majority of cases, the judge will enforce the law as long as the officer followed proper protocol.

Even more important and missing from the council’s logic is that in more than 50 percent of the cases the person cited will never even take the step of challenging the citation. The vast majority will go to driver school or pay the ticket. This process of getting a citation will force those caught speeding to think twice about it - at least when driving down the same road again.

By the way, as backup and if the Los Altos Police Department still refuses to cite speeders on Springer Road, all they need to do is post a cruiser at the intersection at Covington and Springer and cite folks for failing to make a complete stop. This will accomplish two things: Enforce the stopping at the intersection and in the process, slow traffic down.

If they really wanted to raise it up even one more notch, they can try the intersection of Cuesta Drive and Springer Road.

Let’s get real with this issue versus looking at the hypothetical and academic solution you are proposing.

You as a council and the Los Altos Police Department need to be real world, focused and pragmatic about this.

Abhors condition of landscaping

Mario Bonicelli

For the past three years, I have voiced the concern of pruning maintenance of the median strip along Foothill Expressway in Los Altos.

The oleanders get frequent pruning because they become a traffic hazard.

The maples and especially the olive trees have been neglected for, I believe, at least the three years that I have mentioned or longer. In some locations, the “suckers” have nearly overwhelmed the tree itself.

This neglect concerns me as a resident of Los Altos since 1953 and a native of Santa Clara Valley.

I abhor the conditions of all the expressways in Santa Clara Valley for the lack of landscaping in a valley with the wealth of Silicon Valley. And in a city like Los Altos, where homes sell in the $1 million-plus category, the city can’t even maintain a median strip landscape properly for a few miles through the center of the city.

At this writing, I would welcome a reply that I have not received for the many inquiries that I have submitted in the past. I will be at the next city council meeting on time to deliver my concern.