Short-staffed San Jose police not keeping up with traffic enforcement amid rise in fatalities
SAN JOSE -- Wednesday morning marked a grim milestone in San Jose with the 30th fatal pedestrian accident in the city. That is an all-time high with two months left in the year.
The city is also on pace to exceed the number of people killed in traffic accents this year. In 2022 so far, 58 people have died in traffic accidents with the record being 60 fatalities in 2019.
The city's transportation department reduced speed limits along some business corridors, but San Jose police say due to short staffing, they might not have enough officers to help with enforcement.
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"We know that crossing the street is a big challenge in San Jose. This city was built to be convenient to get around fast in a car," says Colin Heyne, the spokesperson for San Jose's transportation department. He says the number one factor in fatal crashes is speed.
That's why the city recently reduced speed limits from 25 to 20 miles per hour in six of the city's business districts.
"These corridors with the exception of Santa Clara Street are not our high crash, high fatality corridors. And any tool that we can take advantage of to lower speed limits anywhere in San Jose, we're going to do that," says Heyne.
San Jose Police say lowering speed limits is a good first step but question how effective it will be without much enforcement.
"The challenge for us is that 10 years ago, we had 50 traffic officers. Today we have 14. Sometimes citing people for violations is what's needed to change someone's driving behavior," says Sgt. Christian Camarillo with the San Jose Police Department.
The issue of police staffing has been a major talking point during this year's mayor's race with both candidates saying the department needs more officers.
Until changes are made, the hope is drivers will get the message and slow down.
"I hope that not every driver out there needs to have the threat of citation in order to get them to obey the speed limit," says Heyne.
Also on Tuesday, San Jose announced it's getting a $120,000 pedestrian and bicycle safety grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Administration.