Carmageddon: Santa Cruz disputes civil grand jury findings on pedestrian safety

Quick Take

The City of Santa Cruz almost entirely disagrees with the civil grand jury’s critical assessment of the dangers of walking in Santa Cruz County – particularly the assertion that the city has not implemented Vision Zero initiatives that could have prevented pedestrian injuries and deaths, and the finding that law enforcement has disproportionately cracked down on driving under the influence rather than speeding.

The City of Santa Cruz is set to reject key findings from a critical civil grand jury report that blamed city leaders for not doing enough to prevent pedestrian injuries and deaths.

While the grand jury urged immediate traffic safety upgrades, city officials largely dispute the report’s conclusions — even as state data ranks Santa Cruz County among the 20% most dangerous counties in California for pedestrians killed or injured in traffic collisions.

In 2023 alone, the cities of Watsonville and Santa Cruz ranked fourth and 29th, respectively, among similarly sized cities across the state for the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured, according to the state’s Office of Traffic Safety. That year saw 27 pedestrians in Watsonville and 21 pedestrians in Santa Cruz killed or seriously injured.

Although the civil grand jury’s report focuses on the whole county, some of the findings pertain to specific cities. The Santa Cruz City Council disagreed with nearly everything in the report that relates to the city.

The city council disagreed with the finding that the city hasn’t implemented Vision Zero plans — which is the goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries — and that doing so would have resulted in fewer pedestrian deaths and serious injuries

It wrote that the council adopted a Vision Zero resolution in August 2019, and committed to eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries, and followed with the city’s local roadway safety plan in May 2021. It added that the city is currently working on a safety action plan that the city council expects to adopt in October, and will replace the existing local road safety plan.

The council also wrote that it frequently seeks state, regional and federal grants for safety improvements, and has recently implemented a number of projects, such as crossing improvement projects that focus on visibility, signage, striping and curb ramps; protected bike lanes on Water Street, and a variety of safety measures on the Bay Street corridor, Front Street and Laurel Street.

The city council fully disagreed with the finding that law enforcement prioritizes enforcing driving under the influence laws over speeding violations, which it sees as an imbalance that may lead to more pedestrian injuries and deaths. It said that Santa Cruz police do not prioritize DUIs over speeding in a way that would create a problematic imbalance, that both are significant safety issues, and that enforcement strategy is data-driven and informed by available resources, officer capabilities, and legal requirements. It wrote that from 2017 to 2026, the Santa Cruz Police Department has issued 1,327 speeding tickets and 2,479 DUI citations, which shows notable speeding enforcement.

The city council partially disagreed with the finding that the public lacks awareness of reporting procedures for sidewalk hazards and faded striping, writing that the city has a community request for service portal that allows people to report bicycle and pedestrian hazards, which are sent to the correct department. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has its own hazard report portal, as well, but did acknowledge that there are opportunities to improve awareness and encourage use of the available resources.

The city council partially disagreed with the finding that it does not take an active role in finding sidewalk hazards and faded safety paint, which results in dangerous sidewalks and crosswalks. It said the city’s process is complaint-driven, and that it also has an annual pavement striping program to make sure crosswalks and roadway markings are visible and effective. City and RTC staff monitor their service portals for new and recent concerns.

Read the full list of responses here. The Santa Cruz City Council meeting begins at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Latest news

Here’s what’s happening this week on our roadways:

Utility and shoulder work is shutting down one lane in various sections of Highway 9 through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those sections are between Marshall Creek Bridge and California Drive/Middle Road, Spring Creek Road and Riverside Drive, Ramona Drive and Stapp Road, and Watermans Gap Junction and the 24.9-mile postmark of Highway 35.

Shoulder work is causing an overnight closure of the southbound Bay Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp at northbound Highway 1 in Capitola from Monday through Thursday between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The southbound Highway 1 off-ramp at Bay Avenue is in the second month of a four-month closure that began Aug. 2, as crews reconstruct the ramp as part of the bus-on-shoulder facility.

Bridge work is currently shutting down alternating lanes of Highway 9 between Pool Drive and Old County Highway and Riverdale Park and Monaco Lane until April 30, 2027.