There has been a concerted response by the Gilroy Police
Department following three tragic pedestrian deaths on our city’s
streets.
There has been a concerted response by the Gilroy Police Department following three tragic pedestrian deaths on our city’s streets.
After 5-year-old Julio Gonzalez was struck and killed while walking to Rod Kelley Elementary School, the effort has seriously intensified.
GPD officers issued 27 citations around Gilroy High School Monday afternoon. Prior to that, officers swarmed Luigi Aprea School. Clearly, an awakening has taken place. These intense GPD traffic operations around schools at peak traffic times are a sound response to the calamity that surrounds drop-off and pick-up at our schools, particularly at GHS.
But, while important, it’s only a piece in what needs to be viewed as a long-term solution.
For starters, the motorcycle traffic officer should be reinstated immediately. GPD has the motorcycle, but nobody to ride it. The hiring process has gone on and on for a year. Meanwhile, enforcement is not nearly as visible so drivers don’t get the repeated message that shouts, “slow down, be careful.”
There’s nothing quite like witnessing an unhappy driver getting an insurance-boosting $200 ticket to drive the point home.
“We don’t have a traffic officer,” is no longer an acceptable excuse – transfer another officer until a new one is hired. On the list of priorities this needs to be right near the top, and it needs to stay there.
Gilroy is no longer a one-horse town where children wave to people they know while crossing the street on the way to school. The traffic message needs to be consistent and clear.
And the last thing we want to Gilroy to become is a city in which children are discouraged from walking to school by fearful parents. Gilroy should be a city where children happily and safely walk or ride their bike to school.
As traffic safety plans are reviewed and renewed, that vision of our community should be the driving force.
How do we accomplish that?
It will take a multi-pronged approach of education, expertise and evaluation.
The driving force behind this should be the GPD and the city’s traffic experts. The school district can provide information, but the expertise is under the city’s umbrella.
Let’s keep our residents safe and our city known as a friendly place. To do that we need a new plan, one that’s good for the long haul.
