AnonymousBy Neighbors in the Alan Road/Arroyo Burro Beach Area
Dear Mayor Murillo:
We are very concerned neighbors who live in the Alan Road/Arroyo Burro (Hendry’s) Beach locality of Santa Barbara.
We want to bring immediate attention to a high risk pedestrian crosswalk in our neighborhood, for which current measures for public safety are inadequate. The crosswalk of concern is located at the intersection of Cliff Drive and Alan Road. This crosswalk is high volume for both vehicles and pedestrians, as this part of Cliff Drive is the primary access to and from the Arroyo Burro Beach area and Hope Ranch community. The high pedestrian traffic volume is in large part because the adjacent section of Alan Road has become de facto overflow parking (particularly on weekends and during warmer weather) for the Arroyo Burro Beach area.
As residents of this area, we use the crosswalk frequently, and have all observed that the crossing is a treacherous one. Automobiles travel fast on Cliff Drive in this area, and too often do not heed the existing crosswalk or small marker indicating that state law requires vehicles to yield to pedestrians. In part, this may be exacerbated by the fact that many visitors to the beach area are from out of town, and are not familiar with the traffic patterns in this area. In addition, during certain parts of the day the ambient light at the crosswalk is poor, and given the orientation of Cliff Drive at the location, in both early morning and late afternoon the effects of sunlight can affect driver and pedestrian visibility significantly.
Recently, on September 16, a pedestrian was using the crosswalk, walking her dog. She was struck while in the crosswalk at a high rate of speed by a vehicle heading westbound on Cliff Drive. The victim was seriously injured, presenting in critical condition as a major trauma activation, subsequently requiring admission to the intensive care unit at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital (her dog was killed).
We are not pointing fingers, but also feel strongly that this tragic incident could have been avoided if the city had taken more proactive measures to improve the safety of the crosswalk. As noted above, the existing signage is inadequate, and further measures such as a pedestrian light signal and/or speed reducing barriers would seem (in our layperson observations) to be appropriate remedies.
Among us who are submitting this letter are first responders, who know first hand the preventable devastation that occurs when pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles and are left with serious, often permanently disabling injuries or even death.
Santa Barbara’s City Council adopted the Vision Zero Strategy in 2018, bringing attention to the fact that saving lives is not expensive when appropriate measures are taken to protect the public safety and further “that it can never be acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving on public roadways.” We applaud this. At the same time, Vision Zero has also acknowledged that our community has a high rate of motor vehicle collisions, including a disproportionate rate of serious or fatal pedestrian outcomes.
We ask again that you help us to take immediate action to provide a fix for this currently high risk crosswalk, and involve the neighborhood in the process. If swift action is not taken, we feel it is merely a matter of time before another person is seriously injured or worse.
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everyone coming out of what area? ohhhhh yeah…. all those mercedes and land rovers cant stop for the poor people! That place is a death trap. My parents live on Alan and can barely leave their house because of the traffic parking on that road. People are jerks, its not the crosswalks fault. they should install the light and a police officer to ticket people. take money away from hope ranch and you might sting them hard enough to make them change….. ( doubt it )
humps, will only cause people to crash. its not the street or the speed. its the loose nut behind the wheel
cameras that take a snapshot of the car’s license should be installed. A ticket could automatically be sent to each person who is traveling over the speed limit. nail the offenders !
That is a terrible idea, for so many reasons. Ever read “1984?”
Catching drivers speeding through a crosswalk is hardly 1984-level surveillance. Of course, it has to be on the up-and-up.
How about residents on alan rd pay for a full time crossing guard. Or have part time crossing guards who donate their time for the betterment of alan road neighbors.
You’d have to photograph the person behind the wheel so remain right with the law. Just going by the license plate won’t get to the driver but the car’s registered owner who may or may not have been the one driving. You see? That’s why vigilantism is a poor excuse for justice.
@7:15 sorry to tell you but….the license plate camera has been getting the culprit for years all over the US and works out quite well or they wouldn’t still be using it. Vigilantism is a obviously a very good excuse and it works…no problems with hack attorneys.
How sad for those who reside on Alan Road to have their access to the beach become a busy access to the commercialized Hendry’s. Hope Ranch traffic has been pretty steady for many years, but the area’s population has grown, tourists have “discovered” our once neighborhood beach, as have those using the beach for unleased dogs. Good to have this letter encouraging the City to slow down the crazy traffic there into the parking lot and along Alan Road.
What an odd introduction to this story: “where a pedestrian’s dog was killed earlier this month.” I had to read to the end of the commentary to find out that the “pedestrian” was seriously injured and hospitalized as though that harm was only small potatoes. Let’s get some priority here.
it is not just alan road residents…if you read the post, alan road is chock a block with people using that street for overflow parking!
Yeah…. that’s a BIG NO on cameras! NO THANK YOU.
Too many people have discovered Hendry’s. With the internet, now EVERYONE knows EVERYTHING. We used to have our local secret spots, but ever notice that when traffic is bad the map apps show all drivers to use the side roads that only the locals know about? It once took me 4 hours to get home from LA! Traffic clogging up the frontage roads (even the back roads in Carp) because apps like Wayz show the tourists the way. And beaches too! NOTHING is sacred anymore. Ugh. TOO damned many people.
A couple of years to get a crosswalk flashing? https://www.noozhawk.com/articles/residents_express_concern_cliff_dr_alan_road_crosswalk_santa_barbara . Why not take the money from another of the city’s on- going downtown and street projects that are making the downtown such a mess? How about the misguided intentions to make two-lane streets into one lanes, de la vina and also Santa Barbara St, or whatever they are doing there with little notice to the public?! Or the ridiculous “bike boulevard” planned for Alisos? Or, Or, Or? But in the meantime speed bumps would help slow down the racers.
I bike down Cliff, and if they put in speed humps I would use my brakes to slow down. I am not addicted to the mad thrill of speed and that is what the brakes are used for. Doesn’t seem that hard.
I ride my bike down Valerio, with speed humps. You just slow down…