At a news conference Wednesday morning, middle school students joined city and school officials, bike and walking groups and local businesses in asking the public to take a stand on traffic safety. The City of Carlsbad is launching the new Safer Streets Together pledge campaign as part of its response to a traffic safety state of emergency that was declared following a more than 200% increase in bike and e-bike collisions since 2019.
Since declaring a local emergency, the City of Carlsbad increased enforcement, added new lanes to over 90 miles of roadway, held training classes and educated community members about traffic safety rules. The pledge campaign is designed to encourage safe behavior on the road, such as slowing down, sharing the road and riding a bike in the same direction as traffic.
“Public safety is a team sport, and we each need to do our part,” said City of Carlsbad Police Chief Mickey Williams.
In rolling out the pledge, the City of Carlsbad also announced new partnerships with local businesses, schools, the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition and Circulate San Diego, who will in the coming months will participate in events, training workshops and other activities to help raise awareness of traffic safety.
To take the pledge, visit carlsbadca.gov/saferstreets. The city is also encouraging residents to share their commitment by displaying yard signs and car window clings that are available for pickup at city libraries.
On Tuesday, the City Council voted to extend the emergency an additional 60 days. The emergency was first proclaimed Aug. 23, 2022. City staff also provided the City Council with an update on actions taken to date. The City Council approved $2 million in emergency funding last August, money left over from the previous year’s budget, to pay for police overtime, street projects and a public outreach campaign.
Progress to date
Some of the actions completed so far include:
Upgraded crosswalk signals to provide pedestrians with a “head start” when crossing the road at 22 locations around schools and 10 locations around the Village, which has a higher than average number of collisions.
Added green markings to bike lanes at 18 locations in the city, with 37 more approved at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Added or improved lane markings at 22 locations around schools.
Prepared a customized e-bike safety class taught by the Police Department that first time offenders can take instead of paying a fine for a citation.
Issued nearly 4,000 citations, including written warnings.
Redesigned the lane striping on 90 miles of streets throughout Carlsbad to slow traffic and provide more space for bicyclists.
The City of Carlsbad was the first in the region to pass laws specific to e-bikes, which have grown in popularity in recent years. The city is now advocating at the state level for new regulations for e-bikes, which has been a primary concern among residents.
“E-bikes are a great way to get around, they’re good for the environment, and they take cars off the road,” said Transportation Director Tom Frank. “This is a case where the laws haven’t kept pace with technology. In the meantime, we are doing everything we can to create the safest environment possible, but even the most well-designed street will be unsafe if the users are unsafe.”
Those who take the city’s Safer Streets Together pledge will be sent regular tips and updates to share with friends and neighbors, as well as information about city sponsored workshops and seminars on traffic safety for all ages.
Results so far
When the city declared an emergency in August 2022, Carlsbad was on track to see one of the highest number of injury collisions since 2017
Injury collisions typically increase from summer to fall. An analysis of the preliminary data for 2022 shows that rather than injury collisions following the trend of increasing 20% between summer and fall, injury collisions fell by about 20% during this timeframe.
Preliminary data also show the number of injury collisions in Carlsbad from October to December 2022 is the lowest in five years.
