Crime & Safety

Lively Patch Discussions on Traffic Safety

Each week we highlight a reader comment.

The past week has seen a wide range of views and debate in numerous comments on two Jan. 30 articles related to traffic safety: "," published on Albany Patch and El Cerrito Patch; and "," published on El Cerrito Patch. Though we have selected but one to reprint below, we believe readers can find several worthwhile comments on both articles.

"Steve" wrote on Feb. 5 in response to "City Needs to Do More to Stop Speeding Cars, Some Residents Say":

I have to take issue with the statements that "...the overall problem of speed could be based on a very small sample of the vehicles the resident has seen drive by..." and that based on data retrieved from radar trailers "...fewer than three percent exceed the posted speed limit..."

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

First, speed trailers are used because they get people to slow down. Any data retrieved from them will be seriously biased as a result. The standard method of setting limits is to use the 85th percentile speed so a number like 3% that wildly deviates from the expected 15% is suspect.

Second, all crime is the result of relatively few bad actors. 3%? A much smaller number, fewer than 0.1%, of people in Richmond are murdered in a typical year. Most Richmond citizens are law-abiding but you would be hard pressed to find someone who would argue that being in the top-5 for murders nationwide isn't cause for concern.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Third, I am more interested in how many speeding/drunk/reckless drivers per day I am exposed to rather than the percentage of the total.

Anecdotally, it only took a few minutes playing with a friend's radar to see multiple 35-40+ on Ashbury and 42 on Stockton (blowing the red-light at Richmond, as well).

Finally, I feel fortunate to have the luxury in El Cerrito to be able to argue traffic at all. In Oakland some friends received notices that the police won't respond to a burglary unless the burglars are still in the house!

El Cerrito is headed the right direction, but we're not done.

  • Editor's note: The "Comment of the Week" doesn't necessarily reflect the view of El Cerrito Patch. It's chosen according to what we believe will be of general reader interest.


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