1 City of Pleasant Hill
Traffic Safety Commission 2024 Annual Report
1. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
This report covers the activities of the Pleasant Hill Traffic Safety Commission for 2024.
The objectives of the report are to document the key activities of the Commission during the calendar year. This will not only monitor the progress being made by the Commission to achieve its goal of a significant reduction in road-based accidents, but also describe the steps being taken to get there.
The overall objectives of the Commission are outlined in the City of Pleasant Hill Municipal Code Chapter 3.35. This includes travel by all means possible, be it pedestrian walking, bicycles & scooters, e-bikes and e-scooters, motorcycles & motor scooters, public & private vehicles, transit, and light & heavy trucks.
Numerous locations in a thriving city such as Pleasant Hill will always be of particular focus for traffic safety, as they present specific challenges.
These include:
● Schools/Colleges/Universities where, at specific times of day, travel activity is extremely intense.
● Areas of high economic/retail activity such as Downtown and Contra Costa Boulevard.
● Major intersections such as Monument Boulevard with I-680 and Contra Costa Boulevard and Chilpancingo Parkway.
● Routes that are being used for purposes for which they were not intended. ● Areas of potential movement conflict such as ordinary intersections, street pedestrian crossings, and trail crossings of the highway. ● Areas of significant speed differentials used by travelers in the same space, such as bicycles on the road.
● Areas where parking reduces visibility.
● Major transit hubs such as the DVC Transit Center.
The report contains several sections, and these are briefly described below.
Section 2 covers News Items and Events occurring during the year. This includes relevant legislation at the National, State, County, and City level. However, the adoption and implementation of any measures covered by these Assembly Bills will require investigation and analyses into applicability to any locations in the City. It is intended to 2 keep everyone aware of changes that may affect traffic safety and behavior. It will cover events such as the Bike Fest.
Section 3 is included to present an annual update of accident statistics and trends This will include statistics at National, State, County, and City levels, and will draw on comparisons with other locations and years.
Section 4 itemizes issues raised by the public during the year and consequent actions taken.
Section 5 sets out the projects completed by the City in the report year.
Section 6 sets out the “on-going” projects in the City
Section 7 looks forward to covering future projects, subject topics, and policies under review by the Commission.
2. NEWS ITEMS AND EVENTS
● Assembly Bill 413 – Vehicles: Stopping, Standing Parking.
The Bill prohibits stopping, standing, and parking within 20ft on the approach side of a crosswalk or 15ft of a “built out” curb crosswalk.
● Assembly Bill 645 – Vehicles: Speed Safety Pilot Program.
The Bill authorizes the conducting of a speed safety system pilot program that would use speed cameras amongst other measures. These experiments would be carried out in Californian cities that include San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. ● Assembly Bill 43 – Vehicles: Speed Limit setting changes The bill allows jurisdictions flexibility in setting speed limits in certain locations, down to as low as 15 mph where appropriate.
● Bike Fest held in September - Highly successful with over 800 attending and will be repeated on 14th September this year.
3. 2024 ACCIDENT RECORDS & COMMENTARY
To measure progress towards “zero tolerance” on road accidents, TSC reviews the latest statistics from the City Police Department on traffic collisions. This excludes the I680 Freeway, which is outside the city’s jurisdiction. 3 During the five years from 2020 to 2024, inclusive, the average annual collision numbers were:
● Total collisions: 260.4
● Injury collisions: 66.6
● Fatal collisions: 0.8
This data is for local streets and roads. Collisions on private property are not reported unless injury or hit-and-run collisions occur. These tend to be less than 10% of total collisions.
It is useful to apply some “benchmarking” to these figures. Compared to the USA nationally, on a per capita basis, the City of Pleasant Hill experienced:
● Less than 50% total collisions
● Less than 30% injury collisions
● Less than 20% fatal collisions
Compared to the State of California, the City had less than 25% fatal collisions. These comparisons are not exact but intended to provide some guidance. The Pleasant Hill data does not include the I-680 Freeway and is local city roads only, thus not reflecting a full cross section of road types that the national and state figures do. 4 Each collision recorded in the City is allocated a primary collision factor (PCF) by the Police Department. The most frequent PCFs are:
● Driving at unsafe speeds
● Driving too closely
● Driver inattention/distraction
Locations where collisions have occurred most frequently are on Contra Costa Boulevard. This includes the major intersections on Contra Costa Boulevard and at the Monument intersection.
The fatal collisions during this 5-year period occurred at:
● Gregory Lane/Helen Drive
● Contra Costa Boulevard/Boyd Road
● Contra Costa Boulevard/Massolo Drive
● Taylor Avenue/Grayson Road
Many of these locations have some of the highest traffic volumes in the city.
4. ISSUES RAISED BY THE PUBLIC & ACTIONS
● Traffic Calming on Hook Avenue. Speed and traffic volume surveys to be carried out in 2025.
● No parking on Price Lane. Recommended for east side, south of Theo Drive. ● Pleasant Hill Road, Palo Verdes to Oak Park Boulevard. Speed and safety concerns. This was Part of the work funded by the Safe Routes to School Grant.
Part of the Intersection and Crosswalk Improvement program. Under review by staff. ● No parking on Norse Drive at Viking/Norse Intersection. Investigated and no changes are proposed to the current ordinance.
● Turn Restrictions on Viking Drive/Stubbs Road. Not recommended, but Keep Clear signs refreshed.
● Speed studies on Pleasant Hill Road.
● Traffic signals Gregory Lane/Moiso Lane, pedestrian crossing concerns. Actions to include: Additional signage, increased pedestrian crossing timing at the signals and increased lighting to crosswalk.
● New crosswalk at Doris and Linda Drives - Ongoing consideration and part of the Safe Routes to School grant funding.
5 ● Grayson Road, Reliez Valley Road to Taylor Boulevard. Speed and Parking surveys requested – Ongoing in 2025 and will be completed after the new subdivision is completed, to determine if any new traffic safety devices are required. ● Stop Sign near Pleasant Hill Elementary School. Excessive delays and bad driver behavior. Needed a settling down period after installation of new stop signs. Staff monitored for the 2024/25 school year and no further actions are recommended. ● Kahrs Ave/ Gregory Lane. Accident and speed issues. Gregory Lane Complete Streets Improvement is a funded project in the Current FY 2024/25 CIP ● Review of success of Intersection and Crosswalk Improvements. ● Taylor Boulevard, Civic Drive to Lucille Lane - sidewalk on south side needs improvements. Ongoing for 2025.
● Taylor Boulevard/Civic Drive, vehicles not stopping to make turns on red.
Enforcement issue.
● Strandwood Walk and Roll program
5. PROJECTS COMPLETED
● Taylor Boulevard/Civic Drive Improvements. Redesign of the intersection to increase pedestrian/vehicle safety and ease of access.
● Intersection and Crosswalk Improvements. Completed at various locations but as part of an overall citywide comprehensive plan.
● Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. The development and implementation of a citywide bicycle and pedestrian facilities plan.
● Oak Park Blvd Sidewalk Gap Closure project. From Monticello Ave to Hook Avenue. ● Oak Park Blvd and Monticello Ave Improvement project. Redesign of the intersection with new signal/pedestrian signals and facilities, following the opening of the new Library and a new housing development.
6. ONGOING PROJECTS
● Contra Costa Boulevard from Harriet Drive/Viking Drive, substantially complete. ● CCTA Smart Signals. The City has several locations where this will be implemented.
7. LONG-TERM ACTIONS AND POLICIES
• Gregory Lane/Kahrs Lane study, this is a CIP project. ● Traffic Signs installations.
● Gregory Lane Complete Streets Study & Speed Study.
● Oak Park Boulevard Corridor Complete Streets study as a CIP project. ● Taylor Blvd Sidewalk Gap Closure, design complete. CIP project. 6 ● Contra Costa Canal Trail/Westover Drive Rectangular Flashing Beacons. CIP and TDA grant project.
● Citywide traffic Data collection
● The Bike Family Family Fest - likely to become a permanent feature on the calendar ● E-Bikes, traffic management & regulation
● TDA grant projects 2025/2026.