Access and Use of Traffic Safety
Services: Targeted Outreach and
Other Improvements Can
Enhance Equity in Services
A Report from the City Auditor
Issued August 2025
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/auditor
Presenters: Joe Rois, City Auditor
Brittney Harvey, Supervising Auditor
Ebelechukwu Obi, Senior Program Performance Auditor
Maria Valle, Program Performance Auditor II
Transportation and Environment Committee, August 11, 2025 Agenda Item (d)1 City Auditor’s Office, 1
The Department of Transportation (DOT) and
the Police Department (Police) provide key
traffic safety programs and services such as:
• Responding to traffic safety service requests
• Implementing a variety of safety projects,
such as traffic calming projects in
neighborhoods, pedestrian safety
enhancements, and quick build projects
• Providing school traffic safety education,
crossing guards, and traffic enforcement
City Auditor’s Office, 2
Background
Finding 1: Equity Priority Communities Received the Same or a Higher Level of Services in Some Traffic Safety Programs • Equity priority communities received a greater
number of quick build safety projects in comparison
to other communities.
• Requests for basic neighborhood traffic safety
services were equally distributed across the city.
• DOT was more timely in closing out basic traffic
safety requests for equity priority communities.
City Auditor’s Office, 3
Recommendations: To expand access
and use of school traffic safety programs,
Police and DOT should:
Expand and coordinate on proactive
targeted outreach.
Develop a process to better track and
facilitate crossing guard requests
between the departments.
Finding 2: School Traffic Safety Programs Can Be More
Proactive in Their Outreach to Engage More Schools
• Both DOT and Police have faced challenges in
reaching all elementary and middle schools.
• Slightly fewer schools in equity priority communities were involved with the Walk N’ Roll program or
had crossing guards than would be expected if
participating schools were equally distributed.
• There are opportunities for better outreach and
cross departmental coordination to improve access
and use of school traffic safety services.
City Auditor’s Office, 4
Recommendations: To expand access
and use of traffic safety services:
Police should translate the online traffic
enforcement request form.
DOT should update and translate its
traffic safety resources, including the
Traffic Calming Toolkit.
DOT and Police should translate phone
trees for accessing traffic safety
services.
Finding 3: Translated and Updated Resources Could Enhance Access to Traffic Safety Services
• Police’s public online traffic enforcement request
form is only in English.
• DOT’s Traffic Calming Toolkit, a resource intended
to provide information to the public on how to
access traffic calming improvements for their
neighborhoods, is outdated and only in English.
• Phone trees that residents are directed to for traffic safety or enforcement services are not always
translated.
City Auditor’s Office, 5
Conclusion
This report has 8 recommendations.
We would like to thank the Department of Transportation and the Police Department for their time and insight during the audit process.
The audit report is available at www.sanjoseca.gov/auditor Audit staff: Brittney Harvey, Ebelechukwu Obi, and Maria Valle City Auditor’s Office, 6