REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action to Approve an Office of Traffic Safety Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Grant Agreement and the Related Budget Amendment
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
The California Office of Traffic Safety's (OTS) mission is to effectively and efficiently administer traffic safety grant funds to reduce traffic deaths, injuries and economic losses.
The OTS reviews local, county, and state crash data to identify roadway users (e.g., motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, teens, older drivers, etc.) with a statistically higher crash risk. This data, combined with citation, licensing, vehicle miles traveled, and demographic information are analyzed to help OTS and its partners understand what is prompting crashes and the resulting injuries/fatalities on California's roadways not only statewide, but also at the county and city level.
OTS uses crash rankings to compare traffic safety statistics of cities and counties of similar population size. Data for the rankings is taken from several agencies, including the California Highway Patrol Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), California Department of Transportation, etc. The rankings, which are developed using the Empirical Bayesian Ranking or EB Method, factor in not only population and daily vehicle miles traveled but also crash records and trends. This results in a single, more accurate ranking. Rankings are available addressing fatalities and injuries; alcohol; motorcyclists; pedestrians; bicyclists; speed related, hit and run, and nighttime crashes; and composite. With this information, individual agencies can identify emerging issues and develop a plan to combat these issues. In turn, OTS and individual cities use this data to monitor progress in addressing ongoing traffic safety problems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified priority areas, which OTS has...
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