B'game Traffic Enforcement - No clear trend

I'm sticking by my assertion from last November made in the post titled "Does the whole County need remedial driving class?" because things do not appear to have improved.  As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus said on Hill Street Blues at the start of every shift "Let's be careful out there".  He was talking to the officers; I refer to the officers and drivers and pedestrians and cyclists.

Back in January we did the annual round-up of crime in town here.  Now BPD has made available the annual traffic enforcement numbers, so here they are:

                                                         2017      2018      2019      2020       2021      2022 

Reported Vehicle Accidents                  317        324        300        200       199        252

Traffic Stops                                      5,003      4,620      5.981    3,413    4,548      3,567 

Moving Citations Issued                      2,615      2,448      3,234    1,421     2,264     1,856

Following one of the principles of the Voice (i.e.  "A numerator without a denominator is useless"), I confirmed with the Chief that officer hours-on-the-street are essentially the same over the seven years.  The only real conclusion I can make from the stats is the Covid lockdown years led to a 30-50% decrease in accidents, stops and citations.  The rebound last year was fairly slow as well.

It would be easy to attribute the numbers to more working-from-home, crazy gas prices, kids postponing getting their licenses, or whatever else you can think of, but they show stability--at least in B'game.  The denominator we don't have is miles-driven in town.  Update:  A reader requested some further breakdown of the types of citations in the total, so BPD has been able to peel the onion a bit.  Here are some key categories:

• Distracted driving (cellphones): 31%
• Speed:  19%
• Stop signs:  13%
• Failure to obey a sign other than a stop sign (i.e. no left turn sign, no right on red sign, etc.):  9%
• Failure to yield to a pedestrian:  2%
• Vehicles driving in bike lanes:  2%
• Failure to yield while turning:  1%

              

Comments

[Handle Bard]

You missed the #1 reason citations are down in town:
The road surface on El Camino.

Speeding is down but dodging in and out of lanes to avoid potholes is UP UP.

And it ain't because of the trees, my friend.

[hollyroller@ gmail.com]

Well, what is it?

[Joanne]

Between worrying about a Euci falling and potholes on El Camino I have avoided it during this winter.

Did anyone hear about the 85 foot Euci falling and practically destroying the vintage Trocadero building in Stern Grove??

As far as US 101 after the hassle and expense of having to replace a tire damaged by a pothole I now drive like I am on a obstacle course to be able to spot and weave around the constantly new potholes between here and Redwood Ciry

[Jennifer Pfaff]

How about all the projects throughout the city?

Lots of infrastructure (both above, and below the ground) and apartment buildings being worked on. Curiously, this may also function as "traffic calming"...

Anyone living on the southend knows the challenges of driving around construction sites. This started during the pandemic, and continues. On El Camino, there has been some kind of pipe-laying project going on for at least a year or two, that typically blocks the slow-lane in several sections.

So people are finding new ways (detours) to get around town where they are not so familiar. And though they have to go slower through the project areas, then many seem to get very aggressive, and gun it, once out of those zones.

And on that, I agree with Joe, people seem to have lost their skills behind the wheel, (both technically, and etiquette-related) ; it's tough out there for pedestrians, they need a third eye.

[Phinancier]

Let's not forget that Uber, Uber Eats, Lyft, DoorDash, Grubhub and whatever other get it to me quickly service is out there is speeding along until they stop wherever they feel like it. I had a Lyft driver tell me that the cops cut them slack if they stop them as long as they haven't been drinking. Seriously.