November 8, 2007

Safe Graystone Neighborhood forum aims to improve local traffic

By Jeanne C. Carbone
Staff Writer

More than 100 interested residents, city officials and the Safe Graystone Neighborhood met on Oct. 22 to discuss safer traffic conditions and how to implement them.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage addresses the more than100 interested residents attending the Oct. 22 Safe Graystone Neighborhood forum. District 10 Councilmember Nancy Pyle says she will keep Gage informed of the studies that are in process. Photo by Jeanne C. Carbone

The Safe Graystone Neighbor-hood was created after the deaths on Graystone Lane on July 23, when a car driven by Eric James Satterstrom, 19, went out of control killing pedestrians Inder and Uma Batra. Also killed was Satterstrom’s passenger Maxwell James Harding, 18.

“Let’s begin tonight with thoughts about why we’re here,” said Safe Graystone Neighborhood member Robin Beresford, who helped organized the forum along with Robert Garner and Jane Frommer. “This is a group that formed out of an event that an event that occurred on July 23 on Graystone Lane that struck us all. It was a terrible loss of life. The group has expanded to 85 families. We want to make a difference.”

The community forum’s purpose was to address excessive and unsafe vehicular speeding, pedestrian safety and to develop a plan to tackle residents’ concerns on Graystone and other Almaden streets that are straight-aways.

Among the officials attending were Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, District 10 Councilmember Nancy Pyle, San Jose Police Department [SJPD] Chief Rob Davis, the Santa Clara County Roads and Airports Department [SCCRAD] staff, the California Highway Patrol [CHP], the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office [SCCSO], the Santa Clara County Department of Transportation and Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Rosemary Kamei, who addressed the collaboration within agencies and residents for change on Graystone Lane.

“I am thrilled that so many of you are here today,” said Pyle. “My goal tonight is to listen so that I can figure out some potential solutions.”

All city and county officials said they are committed to solve the issues and concerns of the Safe Graystone Neighborhood as well as the residents who attended the meeting. Michael Berger stated that SCCRAD is in the process of studies of Graystone Lane regarding stop signs, speed and issues related to the street as well as working with private property owners. He said that there would be trade-offs that may not be immediately apparent with traffic enforcement methods like speed bumps and stop signs.

Graystone neighborhood
Graystone Lane is under three law enforcement jurisdictions for accidents--the San Jose Police Department, the SCCSO and the CHP.

“Some of the recommendations we made for you are to call 311 if you have a traffic issue,” said SJPD’s Davis. “For instance, we received no complaints about Graystone Lane for a year prior to the accident.”

Davis also suggested visiting www.sanjosepd.org to log information or to call (408) 277-4341 to voice concerns for a specific area. There will also be a District 10 traffic calming community meeting at the Almaden Winery Community Center on Nov. 7 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Since 1993, CHP reported that 17 accidents were reported on Graystone Lane, four in SJPD’s jurisdiction and 13 in the county. In 1995, CHP had 125 officers patrolling Santa Clara County; currently there are 88, most of which are placed at high accident areas. Prior to the July 23 fatality, there had not been any calls relating to Graystone Lane. A CHP traffic officer has been monitoring the area since that call. The SCCSO has also been using radar enforcement of the Graystone area.

The Department of Transportation reported four accidents at the stop sign turning onto Graystone Lane the past five years. One was for driving under the influence.

“The key is targeted enforcement,” said Davis. “We need to make sure we’re visible, but we can’t be out there all the time because of our staffing issues. We send more people out for enforcement, and we find that the key people who are cited are residents. Its 35 mph, we need to watch the speedometer. It’s a community issue; it can’t just be law enforcement.”

Four thousand vehicles have driven on Graystone Lane with three fatal accidents in the past 30 years. Yellow light warning signs, mirrors on the road, street lighting, radar trailers, sidewalks, four way stops and stop signs have worked in other areas of Santa Clara County and may be implemented after further studies of Graystone Lane.

Community concerns
A few dozen residents brought up their concerns and questions. One man stated, “although everyone has good intentions, this is an overreaction to a very sad, tragic event.” Others stated that there are pocket areas on Graystone Lane where kids drink and then drive while impaired.

“The Graystone Neighborhood Association has asked you not only to find a way to reduce speeding and crashes on Graystone Lane, but it wants to see a change in the way the city and county handle the problem of speeding on the roads of San Jose so that auto crashes are significantly reduced,” said Almaden Valley Community Association President Art Boudreault, who sited three other fatality accidents in Almaden in the past year.

Boudreault suggested placing patrols where crime occurs and that the three agencies maintain a common database. The database would assist with patrol designation and changes necessary for roadway safety. He said that AVCA would be willing to assist with educating the community.

“This is about teen speeding, peer pressure,” said Martin Harding, father of Maxwell Harding who was killed in the July 23 fatality. “We’ve got to get to these kids. There’s a lot of us and we need to train our youngsters to be safer drivers.”

For more information regarding Safe Graystone Neighborhood, e-mail safe.graystone@gmail.com.