SNAIL Traffic Safety

The context

SNAIL has dangerous and distracted drivers. SNAIL is also home to Bishop Elementary and Columbia Middle School where many children walk and bike to and from school. We have drivers doing burn outs, blowing stop signs, revving engines, and speeding.

The solution

It's time for SNAIL to come together and

  • Share our traffic concerns with one another

  • Transform these concerns into a coherent message to take the city

  • List specific problems that motivate us to take action about our concerns

  • Speak city council meetings to get the city to take action to improve SNAIL traffic safety

Timeline of the project and how it benefits people

Steps required to effectively present our concerns to City Council

  • Get traffic concerns from many SNAIL residents

  • Craft a coherent message that represents as many of these concerns as possible

  • Get a strong showing of SNAIL residents to speak during public comments at City Council

  • Continue to have a couple of SNAIL residents speak about traffic safety at City Council, rotating the speakers

How you can help:

1) Join the list of concerned SNAIL residents

Send an email to SNAIL Traffic Safety

2) Send a letter to the Sunnyvale City Council

Write your own letter

10x more powerful!


It only takes 5 minutes.

The more personal the letter, the more impact it has.


Scroll down for ideas


OR

Send a template letter

If you're short of time, do this.

Personalize the letter by starting with a self-introduction.

Choose one of the five pre-written template emails below to send to the City Council.

I'm a parent:

I'm a longtime resident:

*If one of the buttons above does not work, open your email, create a new email, address it to council@sunnyvale.ca.gov, and manually copy/paste one of the letter templates below into the body.

*If one of the buttons above does not work, open your email, create a new email, address it to council@sunnyvale.ca.gov, and manually copy/paste one of the letter templates below into the body.

Don't forget to sign your name at the end of your letter!

Custom Email

Dear Sunnyvale City Council and Mayor Klein,


  • Introduce yourself. Which neighborhood do you live in and how long have you lived there.

  • Explain what about the traffic safety near where you live concerns you

  • Give specific examples of when you have seen this

  • Express that you need the city's help to achieve better traffic safety



Sincerely,


_____(name)

_____(your neighborhood name)

I'm a Longtime Resident

Dear Sunnyvale City Council and Mayor Klein,


I'm a longtime Sunnyvale resident and I have seen too much unsafe driving in SNAIL. We have had pedestrians hit, repeated drunk driving accidents, and even homes crashed into. It's time for the city to help SNAIL make the streets safer for all residents.


Sincerely,


_____(name)

_____(how long you have been a Sunnyvale resident)

I'm a Parent

Dear Sunnyvale City Council and Mayor Klein,


As a parent, I am concerned about having a safe neighborhood for my children to grow up in. In my neighborhood, I hear engines revving, cars doing burnouts, and driving too fast. SNAIL has had pedestrians hit, home crashed into, and repeated drunk driving accidents. In talking to my neighbors, I know that I'm not the only one that is upset by this.


We need the city of Sunnyvale to help to make the streets of SNAIL safer!


Sincerely,


_____(name)

_____(your neighborhood name)

More ways you can help:

3)Attend Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commitee (BPAC) meetings

4) Tell Sunnyvale PD at

408-730-7180

when you see dangerous driving

This effort is lead by Peggy and Erik Brewster. Join us. We love new members!

Getting more detailed information

The city of Sunnyvale has done a lot of work and generated documentation on traffic safety. It's important reading for anyone that is trying to make a difference and work with the city.

  • Sunnyvale Active Transportation Plan

    • https://sunnyvale.ca.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=27371

    • See page 42 for the bicycle needs section

    • See page 94 for the pedestrian needs section

    • See page 115 for examples of traffic calming features

    • See page 117 for SNAIL pedestrian recommendations - see below

    • See pages 125 - 130 for specific pedestrican spot improvement prioritization

    • See page 140 for the safe route to school plan

    • See page 283 for specific pedestrian recommendations

  • Neighborhood Traffic Calming - This lays out the city's policy on what can be done about traffic calming and how citizens are expected to participate in the process

    • https://sunnyvale.ca.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=24027

    • See page 3 for how to report the process and how the process will proceed. See page 23 for a flow chart of the same.

    • Note: "The City will not implement traffic calming measures, or conduct traffic calming studies on “arterial” or “residential collector” streets."

    • See page 24 for a map showing arterial and residential collector streets.

Below is the map of pedestrian recommendations from page 117 of the Sunnyvale Active Transportation Plan

Bike Spot Improvement maps from from page 66 of the Sunnyvale Active Transporation Plan

At the October 2021 SNAIL Clean Up, we had a posterboard where people could place stickers to show areas of traffic concerns / complaints. Red dots are locations of traffic concerns / complaints. Blue dots are the locations of the person noting the concern / complaint.