DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Work Session: Traffic Safety Initiatives and Response
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council receives the traffic safety recommendations, provides feedback, and approves for implementation.
SUMMARY
In response to the three recent pedestrian fatalities that occurred on the City’s High Injury Network (HIN) in the month of February, Staff recommends the following short-term actions to be taken to enhance safety on the HIN:
Immediate Action at High Injury Network Intersections
Deploy quick-build design and implementations at the top ten HIN intersections rated by crash severity. Evaluate “No Right Turn on Red” restrictions and Leading Pedestrian Interval signal timing for crosswalks. Leading Pedestrian Intervals increase pedestrian safety by having crosswalk walk signals activate before concurrent green signals for traffic.
This allows pedestrians to establish themselves and take space in the crosswalk before vehicular traffic can do so, leading to increased visibility and reduced pedestrian and vehicle conflicts.
Create a Vision Zero Crash Response Program
Public Works Transportation Division and Police Department staff will be assigned to the Vision Zero Crash Response Program (VZCRP) and will be tasked with responding to fatal and severe injury collisions by taking the following steps after a serious or fatal collision has occurred: (1) Review the results of the police investigation, (2) Perform a field visit of the collision, (3) Make recommendations on potential quick-build fixes, and (4) Publish data and results, as appropriate. Develop a Vision Zero website that will have Vision Zero statistics and resources publicly available.
Raise Awareness of Street Safety Practices
The Police Department in coordination with Youth & Family Services Bureau (YFSB) and the Case Management & Mental Health Linkages Team (LINK) will collaborate with a
network of community agencies and service providers that support vulnerable populations.
Through partnership with these providers, the Police Department can deliver targeted pedestrian safety education directly to individuals most at risk. Police personnel, in coordination with LINK, will conduct periodic pedestrian safety briefings and educational outreach at shelters, transitional housing programs, and community resource centers.
Community engagement and education regarding traffic and pedestrian safety will also take place in the form of local community meetings and youth program interaction.
Deploy Focused Traffic Enforcement
The Police Department will implement a focused, data-driven enforcement initiative to improve pedestrian safety within identified High-Injury Network corridors. Enforcement resources will be strategically deployed in designated HIN corridors during peak collision periods within an operational period of three months, starting in March and ending in June.
Enforcement methods will include high-visibility patrol, radar/LIDAR speed enforcement, motorcycle deployments, and periodic decoy pedestrian operations, while metrics will be utilized to measure progress throughout the initiative to determine if the objectives of improving traffic and pedestrian safety, and reducing collisions are effective. A report to Council will be submitted to highlight progress and adjust where needed.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item does not impact the General Fund or Measure C.
Staff time and resources to implement the recommendations are expected to be funded from existing adopted CIP projects that are funded by transportation-specific funding, such as Gas Tax, Measure B, and Measure BB funds.
BACKGROUND
The City Council adopted the Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) on June 27, 20231, which assesses and identifies locations and strategies to improve road safety throughout the City.
Along with identifying the City’s HIN, the LRSP recommends a set of strategies and countermeasures to address and prevent severe injury and fatal collisions. Through the same action, City Council also adopted Vision Zero, which established the goal to eliminate fatalities and severe injuries on the City’s roadways by 2050.
The HIN was identified through the development of the LRSP. The LRSP used collision data recorded from Hayward’s intersections and roadways from 2017-2021. Intersection and roadway segments were rated by their crash severity, a metric that was developed to align with the state Highway Safety Improvement Program. Tier 1 locations are considered the most severe and make up 6 centerline miles and represent 2% of the City’s total roadway network but accounts for 25% of fatal and severe injury crashes. Tier 2 locations were also considered severe, but less than Tier 1 locations. Tier 2 locations make up 41 centerline miles and account for 16% of the total network and 50% of fatal and severe injury crashes.
1 https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6271751&GUID=D83F21F7-16CB-46E5-A249-672EAD37C991&Options=&Search=
Together, the HIN identifies less than 20% of the City’s roadway network where 75% of Hayward’s fatal and severe injury collisions from 2017 to 2021. A detailed HIN map along with a list of HIN intersections and roadways is provided in Attachment II.
During the month of February 2026, three separate traffic-related pedestrian fatalities occurred in the City. The first fatality occurred on February 7, when a woman was struck on Foothill Boulevard. The second fatality occurred on February 14 at the intersection of Tennyson Road and Baldwin Street, where a woman and child were struck crossing the crosswalk at that intersection. The woman did not survive her injuries. The third fatality occurred on February 17, when a woman was struck crossing the crosswalk at the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Foothill Boulevard. She was crossing against the “upraised hand” walk signal. The combination of these three collisions resulted in three pedestrian fatalities occurring in less than two weeks.
DISCUSSION
The City’s Transportation Division is a division within the Public Works Department and is tasked with leading the implementation of Vision Zero. Transportation Division staff manage a variety of short, medium, and long-term projects, shown in Attachment III. In addition, staff are responsible for non-project tasks such as responding to resident requests and troubleshooting traffic operations and maintenance issues. The number of these requests have significantly increased over the years. Table 1 shows that in the past three years, resident complaints through the City’s Access Hayward platform have steadily increased while Transportation staff response by creating work orders increased at a higher rate.
Table 1
Calendar Year 2023 2024 2025
Transportation Access Hayward Requests 704 812 821
Transportation Work Orders Created 43 31 96
Most Access Hayward requests do not require a work order to be created. Work orders are created by Transportation staff when action is required by another department. Many Access Hayward requests can be resolved or responded to without a work order. The sharp increase in work orders is shown in Table 1 to show the increased staff effort and attention given to short-term non-project requests. Given the high workload and capacity restraints of both the Transportation Division and Police Department, staff are proposing the following feasible recommendations to increase safety on the HIN in the short-term.
Immediate Action at High Injury Network Intersections
Quick-build projects are a type of transportation project that aims to achieve fast implementation of transportation infrastructure in response to pressing needs. These projects achieve this primarily using materials and infrastructure like paint, delineators, and signs. It is also achieved by fast progression or skipping of traditional project phases
like planning, outreach, and detailed design. The items and materials used in quick-build projects are often adjustable, reversible, and less costly than other types of improvements that are permanent and more durable. Because of this, quick-build projects can often take the form of pilot projects, where flexibility and the option of reversing the changes are possible. The City has completed a number of quick-build projects in recent years. This includes the Campus Drive Traffic Calming Project, the Orchard Avenue Traffic Calming Pilot Project, and the Mission Boulevard Parking Pilot Project.
Although there are medium and long-term plans and projects for many HIN roadways and intersections already underway, staff recognize the need for quicker safety enhancements to be implemented. In response to this need, staff has selected ten HIN intersections with the highest crash severity scores to propose quick-build solutions. These quick-build solutions would be designed and implemented in the short-term (within a year). The ten intersections are listed in order of priority:
1. Tennyson Road & Baldwin Street*
2. Foothill Boulevard/Mission Boulevard & Jackson Street
3. Tennyson Road & Calaroga Avenue
4. A Street & Victory Drive
5. Huntwood Avenue & Montana Way*
6. Hesperian Boulevard & Sleepy Hollow Avenue
7. Hesperian Boulevard & Turner Court
8. A Street and Foothill Boulevard
9. Tennyson Road and Huntwood Avenue
10. Industrial Parkway and Ruus Road
*Non-signalized intersection
Of the ten intersections identified, two do not have traffic signal control. A quick-build design was completed and implemented on March 3 for the intersection of Tennyson Road & Baldwin Street, and serves as an example of a quick-build implementation at the intersection level. The design is provided in Attachment IV. If City Council concurs with this recommendation, the Transportation Division will start the design and implementation of the remaining nine intersections.
In addition to specific quick-build designs for each of the intersections listed, staff will work on these additional short-term projects to enhance safety and awareness, where feasible:
• Evaluation and implementation of “No Right Turn on Red” at HIN intersections • Evaluation and implementation of Leading Pedestrian Intervals at HIN intersections • Creation of a Vision Zero website, where information and statistics relating to the City’s Vision Zero goals and policies can be accessed by the public
Vision Zero Crash Response Program
The Public Works Transportation Division and Police Department staff will form a Vision Zero Crash Response Program. It is important that the cause and circumstances of a serious or fatal collision are understood and action is taken in order to prevent or reduce similar collisions from occurring in the future. Staff assigned to the this team will be tasked with responding to fatal and severe injury collisions by taking these steps after a serious or fatal collision has occurred: (1) Review the results of the police investigation, (2) Perform a field visit of the collision, (3) Make recommendations on potential quick-build fixes, and (4) Public data and results, as appropriate.
Quick-build fixes recommended through this process can be added to the list of quick-build fixes that have already been started.
Raise Awareness of Street Safety Practices
To further enhance pedestrian safety within identified HIN corridors, the Police Department in coordination with YFSB and LINK will collaborate with our network of community agencies and service providers that support vulnerable populations.
Organizations include:
• BACS (Hedco/ St. Regis)
• ABODE (Outreach Teams)
• Tiburcio Vasquez Clinic (Street Outreach Team)
• South Hayward Parish
• Community Services for Independent Living (CRIL)
• Salvation Army
• South County Homeless Shelter
• Goldies Home- Nina Christian
Through partnership with these providers, the Police Department can deliver targeted pedestrian safety education directly to individuals most at risk. These partnerships allow safety messaging to be shared in trusted environments where service providers already maintain established relationships with their clients.
Police personnel, in coordination with LINK, will conduct periodic pedestrian safety briefings and educational outreach at shelters, transitional housing programs, and community resource centers. Key topics will include safe crosswalk usage, recognizing pedestrian signals, nighttime visibility, and strategies to safely navigate high-traffic corridors. Outreach teams and case managers can reinforce safety messaging during routine client engagement.
Furthermore, community engagement and education regarding traffic and pedestrian safety will also take place in the form of local community meetings and youth program interaction.
Deploy Focused Traffic Enforcement
To address requests for increased enforcement the Police Department will implement a focused, data-driven enforcement initiative to improve pedestrian safety within identified High-Injury Network corridors. This effort combines targeted enforcement, interdepartmental collaboration, and public outreach to reduce pedestrian-related collisions and increase driver compliance with traffic laws.
Enforcement resources will be strategically deployed in designated HIN corridors during peak collision periods within an operational period of three months, starting in March and ending in June. Patrols will conduct three targeted enforcement operations per week within HIN corridors focusing on the primary causes of pedestrian-involved collisions:
• Speeding
• Failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
• Red-light violations
• Distracted driving
• Unsafe pedestrian crossings
Enforcement methods will include high-visibility patrol, radar/LIDAR speed enforcement, motorcycle deployments, and periodic decoy pedestrian operations. The expected outcomes of these operations will be improved driver compliance, increased pedestrian safety awareness, and a measurable reduction in pedestrian-involved collisions at HIN locations.
Metrics will be utilized to measure progress throughout the initiative to determine if the objectives of improving traffic and pedestrian safety, and reducing collisions are effective. A midterm report to council will be submitted to highlight progress and adjust where needed.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The recommendations proposed when implemented will help reduce the likelihood of serious injuries and fatalities at High Injury Network locations throughout the City. Traffic- related injuries, fatalities, and collisions have a significant economic cost, both to those directly impacted and to other users of the transportation system. By helping to prevent these impacts, the recommendations will have a significant economic benefit for Hayward residents, businesses, and visitors.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority to Enhance Community Safety & Quality of Life and the Strategic Priority to Invest in Infrastructure. This item is not specifically related to a project identified in the Strategic Roadmap. Staff is bringing forward this new item to advance implementation of the Council adopted Local Road Safety Plan.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
This agenda item will support and enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety, which will encourage use of sustainable transportation modes throughout the City.
PUBLIC CONTACT
This City Council Traffic Safety Work Session was mentioned at community workshops for the Safe Streets Hayward project on March 2nd, 2026 at Eden Youth & Family Center and on March 10th, 2026 at the Hayward Public Library.
NEXT STEPS
If City Council concurs with the recommendations, staff will work on immediate implementation. The Police Department will provide a report on its focused traffic enforcement and the Transportation Division will provide a report within a year of the progress made on the proposed short-term and quick-build implementations.
Prepared by: Byron Tang, Principal Transportation Engineer Ryan Sill, Lieutenant, Police Department
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
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Jennifer Ott, City Manager