Politics & Government

Injury Accidents on Marin Avenue Rise After Safety Fix

Marin Avenue saw more injury accidents after a "road diet" was undertaken to make it safer. Have you noticed a difference? Please tell us in the comments.

In 2005, Marin Avenue went on a diet. In the jargon of urban planners, that means a stretch of the road that follows the course of an old creek from the Berkeley Hills to San Pablo Avenue was downsized from four travel lanes to two. A two-way turn lane and bicycle lanes were added to make the street safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. 

A year after the work was finished, from The Alameda almost to San Pablo Avenue, engineers hired by the cities of Berkeley and Albany concluded that the diet achieved its main goals.

Travel speeds inched up in Albany only slightly, by one to three miles per hour, and traffic volumes dropped significantly. Pedestrians had to wait longer to cross the street, but they were safer. Travel times for drivers didn’t change.

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A traffic engineering study released in 2008 found that most drivers in Albany were traveling Marin at about 30 mph, compared with 2002 speeds of 36 mph. (The posted speed limit is 25 mph.)

A TRAGEDY BRINGS SAFETY QUESTIONS BACK TO THE FOREFRONT

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Public attention returned to traffic safety on Marin after Tyler De Martini was fatally struck by a car as he skateboarded down Marin near Albany after dark on Jan. 30.

The  has not made public the report from De Martini's accident. 

Commenters on Albany Patch remarked that, despite the so-called "road diet," Marin Avenue remains treacherous for pedestrians and motorists alike.

One line in the 2008 traffic analysis pointed to the road's "horizontal curvature," which reduces visibility and leads to "conditions not readily apparent to the driver," as danger factors on Marin. 

Patch staff looked at 10 years of traffic records to learn if Marin Avenue had become safer after it was reconfigured in 2005.

FEWER CARS, MORE INJURY ACCIDENTS

Public records from the California Highway Patrol show that the number of injury collisions on Marin Avenue increased after 2005, from 60 (2001-05) to 89 incidents (2006-10). 

The vast majority of the increase happened in Albany, with 34 injury wrecks in the earlier period, and 61 in the later one—despite 21-29 percent fewer vehicles.

Ramona and Masonic avenues were the intersections with the highest number of injury collisions.

(There were also three fatal accidents from 2001 to 2010, two in Berkeley and one in Albany.)

Records show that the number of injury accidents where unsafe speed was a factor rose, from about 22 percent before the diet to 53 percent afterward.

RESULTS LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS

Several Albany city staffers said they weren't sure why injury accidents would have increased following the road diet. Non-injury collisions showed a marked downward trend after the adjustments, and police said many of their calls on Marin tend to be fender benders.

is the mayor of Albany and transportation manager for the city of Berkeley. Javandel said Berkeley has not conducted another traffic safety study on Marin Avenue since 2006.

"If something anecdotally seems to be coming up, or the police department brings something to our attention," Javandel said, “then we would look at that."

(Several Marin studies, from Albany and Berkeley, are available here.)

Albany's Community Development Director, Jeff Bond, said the city is waiting to hear from Berkeley about what factors may have contributed to the De Martini collision before taking action.

"We need to let the city of Berkeley finish their investigation," he said. "If they determine things could be done, I’m sure we’ll look at whether improvements can be done in Albany, too. I hope that we will cooperate and collaborate. Even if we don’t, we’ll get the report and look at our own situation."

The city could consider possible improvements such as better signage, crosswalk striping, speed humps or more lighting.

"Maybe it’s not just Marin," Bond continued. "Maybe we need to take a look at how well all of our busy intersections work."

 Top Intersections on Marin for Injury Collisions (2001-2010) Ramona (Albany) 13 Masonic (Albany) 11 Curtis (Albany), The Circle (Berkeley)
8 San Pablo (Albany), Santa Fe (Albany), Colusa (Berkeley), The Alameda (Berkeley)
7

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If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at albany@patch.com.


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