Quick Take
Longtime Santa Cruz County resident Rick Boyce critiques the county’s approach to traffic safety, especially the use of plastic balusters meant to protect cyclists. While acknowledging well-intentioned infrastructure like the Whale Bridge and buffered bike lanes, Boyce argues that poorly executed solutions — such as damaged and hazardous lane dividers — might be doing more harm than good. He calls for more thoughtful, lasting fixes and shared responsibility among all road users to improve safety in our county, now ranked second-worst in California for traffic accidents.
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A recent Lookout piece highlighted that Santa Cruz County is ranked the second-highest county in California for bicycle, pedestrian and motor vehicle accidents. That certainly explains the daily cacophony of sirens I hear in Mid-County. We average approximately 20 fatalities a year.
This is troubling, for all of us. Riding a bicycle or walking should not be a life-and-death situation each day.
I believe we can all agree that speeding, disregard for vehicle code rules – by both motorists and cyclists – distracted driving and the many discourteous ways people operate their vehicles all contribute to these regular accidents. It is a situation that will only improve when all parties recognize they have a responsibility to walk, drive or ride with a sense of obligation for the safety of others around them. It will not improve as long as people continue to view their movements about the county as some sort of challenge to cut off, swerve or speed past a few others.
It is a daily race that no one ever wins.
Unfortunately, the county’s attempts to curb this situation appear to remain hit-or-miss as well.
There is good intention to try and improve separation between pedestrians, bicyclists and multiton motor vehicles. Since the causes of these mishaps are multiple, we need many attempted fixes.
For example, the new Whale Bridge overcrossing should keep more bicyclists and pedestrians out of the congested and dangerous intersections near Dominican Hospital, where Highway 1, Soquel Drive and Soquel Avenue all converge to create multiple opportunities for accidents.
The sections of pathway that are only for pedestrians and bicycles through several parts of the Westside have obviously reduced opportunities for dangerous interactions. Additionally, the restriping and narrowing of vehicle lanes along Soquel Drive with a painted ”buffer lane” between vehicle and bike lanes also should improve safety.
But then came the ridiculous expense and poor forethought of installing dozens of white plastic balusters along Soquel Drive in the “buffer lane.” Within a matter of days, many of these have been dented, bent or completely torn off from their round plastic bases. Now these black bases on the roadway can be easily overlooked by bicyclists.
They now serve as fixed “land mines” to throw a bicyclist off balance and potentially cause serious harm. Bent into either the bike lane or roadway, the damaged balusters also become dangerous.
The cost to install these, as well as to maintain them, could have been much better spent by simply adding thick, red, nonskid paint lines across the buffer zones that would act as a vibration sensor for all vehicles, without creating the hazards and eyesores these balusters have become.
For those of us who have lived here in the county for years, we can remember the section of this same type of balusters that were installed on the corner of Wharf Road as you turned onto Soquel Wharf Road in Soquel. They were there in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were repeatedly knocked down and have since been removed.
Shouldn’t the reasons for their removal have been reviewed prior to the recent installation of all of the new ones along Soquel Drive?
As a pertinent example, a doctor friend of mine once witnessed a woman, who was eight months pregnant, hit one of those bases on her bicycle at the corner of Walnut Street and Wharf Road. She fell down and was quite shaken up. He found himself taking her to the hospital to assure all was well. Fortunately, everyone was OK, but I think this brief story should serve as a reminder to the traffic engineers of this county that these balusters and their hard-to-see bases can easily cause more accidents than they prevent.
Not only have they quickly become eyesores in their damaged condition, but they also are more dangerous when they are bent, or when they are completely torn off.
I respect and applaud the traffic engineers of our county for their efforts to make our travels, whether by foot, on bicycle or in our vehicles, more safe. Being ranked second-worst in the state for accidents between these modes of transportation certainly warrants our attention.
However, I am hopeful that this type of separation, using easily damaged plastic balusters, will not continue to be one of the many possible solutions. In such a beautiful area as ours, it should be a priority for all of us to be able to move about safely.
I implore all of us to find better solutions and be more respectful toward others while on our roadways.
Rick Boyce has been a lifelong pedestrian, a casual bicyclist and an enthusiastic driver in Santa Cruz County since 1978. He was an elementary school teacher for nearly 25 years, where he always encouraged the use of bike helmets, and he drove a county Metro bus for 10 years without an accident. He wishes you safe travels.