.
Dear Menlo Park City Council:
On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the Council will vote to adopt a resolution for recommended speed limits in key areas throughout the city. A number of streets’ speed limits have been recommended by city staff for a decrease. However, Olive St. between Middle and Santa Cruz, despite being a major school thoroughfare for students on bike/foot, has been recommended by city staff to remain at its current speed limit of 30mph.
This is a worrisome oversight, which will perpetuate a large safety risk for the massive number of Hillview Middle School students who use this thoroughfare to walk and bike to school every single school day. (Oak Knoll, Menlo School, and Sacred Heart students use this thoroughfare as parts of their longer bicycle commutes.).
We realize that this safety hazard is not your fault as it has been this way for many years. This is finally our opportunity to do something about it. Thank you.
We ask City Council to please not approve this resolution unless the portion of Olive St between Middle and Santa Cruz be approved for a reduction from 30mph to 25mph. This is crucial to students’ safety because:
1. Olive St between Middle and Santa Cruz is a *major* thoroughfare for Hillview students on bike and foot. In fact, the MPCSD Hillview website actually includes this portion of Olive St as a “Suggested Bicycle and Walking Route” to students and their families: https://district.mpcsd.org/cms/lib/CA01902565/Centricity/Domain/32/Hillview%20Middle.01.SR2SMap.pdf.
2. The California Vehicle Code (CVC) Section 23552 states that prima facie limits for school zones (including areas where students are approaching school) be 25mph. The code seems to indicate that a limit of 25mph accompany a SCHOOL sign, which can be placed up to 500 feet away from the school 500 feet extends to approximately to the intersection of Olive St and Stanford Ave. At the very least, therefore, this segment of Olive should be labeled as 25mph. Since most of the students using Olive use the entire stretch from Middle Avenue to Santa Cruz Avenue, we recommend that this entire stretch be reduced to 25mph for more thorough protection.
3. There is a clear history of vehicle accidents involving students on this portion of Olive Street and countless “near misses”.
4. The argument used in the staff report that streets reduced more than 5 points below the 85th percentile will be difficult to enforce is insufficient and likely inaccurate for this portion of Olive street. See the P.S. below for details.
5. Olive St does not include consistent bike lanes, making reduced vehicle speeds even more crucial for the safety of students on bicycles.
6. Olive St does not have sidewalks or consistent “public rights of way” to enable safe walking. Students have to veer well into the street and risk a collision in many locations where homeowners’ landscaping covers the public right of way. The slower the speed of nearby cars, the longer those cars will have to make an adjustment and avoid a collision.
7. There is no cross walk at the busy intersection of Stanford Avenue at Olive St (within the piece of Olive St. being discussed here). Cars at this intersection face throngs of students crossing haphazardly by bike and foot. This intersection contributes greatly to the general chaos faced by drivers and bikers/walkers, making it even more essential for a reduced driving speed on Olive. St.
Again, we are not placing blame on anyone on Council for this safety issue, which came to be well before you held office. However, we hope that you will use this unique city-wide opportunity to include this portion of Olive St. for a speed limit reduction. If only one student avoids a collision with a car because of this effort, it will have been worth it.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Angela and Justin Evans, homeowners on Olive St. (section between Middle and Santa Cruz)
P.S to Point 4 above:
In its report, city staff states that, for those streets where the speed limit is lowered more than 5 points below the 85 percentile rule, speeding violations to drivers may be thrown out in court, making it more difficult to enforce. However, the FAQs with the California Department of Transportation state that “exceptions include limits that are near schools, senior centers….”. In other words, it is likely that 25mph could, in fact, be easily enforced due to school proximity. https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/safety-programs/documents/faqs-ca-manual-on-setting-speed-limits-a11y.pdf
Even if the 25 mph couldn’t be enforced (though the above indicates that it probably could), we believe that the presence of 25 mph signage will still impact driver behavior, resulting in lower overall average speeds. Considering the student population at risk on this street, a reduction to 25mph is a meaningful change no matter what.
