San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed
The United States Department of Transportation has compiled statistics that show nearly 80,000 pedestrians are injured each year after being struck by motor vehicles – primarily in crosswalk zones. The largest segment of these accident victims are children under the age of 16.
The city of San Jose is taking steps in order to address this critical safety issue. On Thursday, September 3, 2009, San Jose unveiled their ‘Back-to-School Safety’ press conference at the Horace Cureton Elementary School. This is a comprehensive safety program designed to safeguard the health and safety of the students as they are arriving or leaving the school, and is a result of a collaborative project between Alum Rock Unified School District and the city’s Transportation Department.
In addition to constructing a new set of sidewalks so that children will no longer walk in the gutter or in the roadway, Mayor Chuck Reed and the city council authorized four Parking and Traffic Control Officers (PTCOs) in this year’s budget to promote compliance and driving safety in school zones. Further, the city of San Jose unveiled its fleet’s first plug-in Prius (100+MPG) to be assigned to patrol school zones. There are two of these vehicles, which have been customized with a mounted speed-radar sign on the rear of the car to remind parents and neighbors to watch their speed in school zones.
Finally, taking center stage at the event was a Coulomb electric vehicle charging station, which will be used not only to recharge the plug-in Priuses, but also to power the speed-radar sign mounted to the rear of the car. This will eliminate the need to idle the car in order to provide the sign’s power.
Council member Nora Campos attended the event and said, “We all share the responsibility of making our communities safe for our children.”
“Everyone needs to make a commitment to slow down and pay more attention where they’re driving around schools,” Mayor Reed said during the kick-off ceremonies at Cureton Elementary School. “Keeping our children safe must be a priority.”
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