Downtown business owners, however, believe downtown is safer
Morgan Hill – For six months now, two Morgan Hill Police Department motorcycles have patrolled the city and many residents and business owners agree they have been effective in slowing down speeders.
Since Morgan Hill police officers Max Cervantez and Steve Pennington began enforcement in May, they have collectively written more than 1,400 citations and given approximately 60 warnings.
The officers focus on enforcing traffic laws, investigating serious injury and fatal collisions that occur in Morgan Hill and augment the patrol force, when necessary.
Since 1992, more than 14 years ago, the city had been without motorcycle traffic enforcement officers. In 2003, the department also moved officers from traffic enforcement to regular patrol because of staffing.
Patrol officers also conduct traffic enforcement, but primarily focus on responding to calls from residents.
Main Street Bagels owner David Trinh said he believes the downtown is a safer place, especially for kids, since the traffic unit was formed.
“When there are cops around, people drive slower, more carefully,” he said. “Their presence definitely has an effect. Oh, you hear people saying they don’t like it, saying, ‘Look, he’s pulling people right and left,’ but I think it does make a difference how people drive downtown. Even with those speed bumps, as soon as they clear them, they hit the accelerator again, speed up to 35 (mph) or more.”
Many Britton Middle School students bike or walk through the downtown, he added.
“Whenever there are kids downtown, especially those Britton kids, I worry because those sidewalks are so close, and the kids are there, on bikes or skateboards or walking, and if people aren’t careful, it could be a really bad situation,” he said.
Steve Peña, co-owner of Sinaloa Cafe, said he agrees that the downtown can be dangerous.
“It’s like taking your life in your hands if you ever try to cross the street, even in the crosswalks,” he said. “So I think (the traffic unit) is a good thing, they do slow people down. Of course, there are always people who just don’t care, they drive fast no matter. And we hear people complaining all the time because they’ve gotten a ticket, or their spouse has gotten a ticket.”
Peña said downtown merchants want the traffic to slow down.
“Not to mention the whole safety issue, which is a big thing, we want them to go slower so they can see what’s here,” he said. “If they just blow through downtown, they don’t see anything.”
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming said he believes the community in general is pleased with the work of the traffic unit.
“I have heard more positive than negative; certainly nobody likes getting a traffic ticket, but I haven’t heard a lot of complaining,” he said. “So many talked to me about traffic when I first came to Morgan Hill, commenting that they wanted more traffic enforcement. The police department did a survey about two-and-a-half years ago, and three things came out of that, one of them was more traffic enforcement.”
The presence of the traffic officers, he said, alerts people to mind their driving manners.
“All of us, and I am including myself in that, need to slow down,” he said. “There is nothing better than seeing a police motorcycle or car consistently in an area to change our driving habits. We have focused on the downtown, the Monterey Road corridor, but there are other areas. East Dunne Avenue is a speedway, and everybody knows it. My particular concerns have been the school zones, the downtown area; we’ve had a couple of bad accidents by Britton Middle School, and we don’t want that to happen in any school areas.”
Morgan Hill police Sgt. Mark Brazeal said the department responded to 360 traffic collisions between January and November of this year, an increase of 38 accidents compared to the 322 traffic collisions reported between January and November of 2005.
“I was disappointed to see that collision rates are up, but there are so many factors related to that,” Brazeal said. “You can look at it by location, time of day, the growth of certain areas in the city, there are a lot of variables. But we have seen a decrease in the Monterey corridor.”
Brazeal said between January and November, there were 25 major injury accidents in 2005 and 28 in 2006; 28 minor injury accidents in 2005 and 45 in 2006; and 269 accidents with property damage in 2005 and 287 in 2006.
Cumming said he looks to the community to support the traffic unit’s efforts to reduce collisions and make Morgan Hill safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
“I ask for everyone’s help with this problem, because it is all of our responsibilities to take care of this community,” he said. “Let us know if you think there are problem areas. Drive responsibly yourself; for example, if your phone rings when you are driving, there’s no reason you have to answer it. You can pull over, stop and call people back. We all need to think about how we drive.”
Brazeal said the department has recently divided the city into 12 “traffic zones,” each of which will be the focus of the traffic unit for a month at a time, twice during a year.
Residents with traffic concerns can
contact the MHPD via the Web site, www.morganhill.ca.gov using links “Contact the City” – “City Inquire/Feedback” and “Traffic Enforcement,” or by calling the traffic hotline at (408) 776-0460.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at
md****@mo*************.com
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