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El Dorado
Hills Citizens Alliance
News, September 21, 2007 www.edhca.net
email:
alliance@edhca.net
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Town Hall Meeting is officially announced
Traffic Patrol drops Lincoln accident rate 42% in one year
Town Hall Meeting is officially announced
The official announcement of the October 4th Town Hall meeting has been released. To view it click on either the light blue rectangle above or the words Town Hall Meeting wherever they appear in this news item. The meeting will be in the CSD Pavilion (1021 Harvard Way) from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 4th.
The announcement includes a list of several good topics for discussion, as well as an open item for "you name it". This will be a valuable opportunity for dialog with our local government's policy makers, as well as among ourselves. We urge everyone to attend if possible and to spread word about the meeting throughout the community.
Traffic Patrol drops Lincoln accident rate 42% in one year
One week ago a presentation at the Symposium on Health and the Built Environment reported that El Dorado County had El Dorado County traffic accidents had produced 40% more hospitalizations per capita than California's state average. This morning the Sacramento Bee reported a dramatic reduction of 42.3% in traffic accidents in the City of Lincoln within one year, with the drop attributed to traffic patrol. With patrol done by city police, the report also noted a reduction in total crime of 13.7%.
Lincoln has been growing rapidly, more than doubling in population over the last 5 years, to a current estimate of 37,400 people. This is about the same size as El Dorado Hills, though still smaller than the population served by the EDH Fire District ("El Dorado Hills County Water District"). Lincoln's police force has expanded from 20 officers a year ago to 38 today, about one officer per thousand population. Quoting from the Bee article:
"We want to give credit to our patrol officers," said Lt. Kevin Klemp. "They are out there doing their jobs better than ever."
Klemp said a major reason for the decreases is that officers have been assigned specific beats, allowing them to learn their neighborhoods and the people in them.
In addition, the department has created a traffic unit, which has led to an increase in citations to drivers and more awareness about driving safely, he said.
Our challenge in El Dorado Hills is to get traffic patrol.
State law reserves traffic patrol authority to the CHP in
unincorporated areas, but the Placerville CHP office has only 3/4 as
many officers (28) as the City of Lincoln, and it has about 1,100 miles
of roads and highways to cover. We are working with Assemblyman
Nakanishi's office with a goal of having legislation introduced in
January to authorize traffic patrol by the El Dorado County Sheriff
within the El Dorado Hills community area. See Position
Paper 07-01 for additional notes.Klemp said a major reason for the decreases is that officers have been assigned specific beats, allowing them to learn their neighborhoods and the people in them.
In addition, the department has created a traffic unit, which has led to an increase in citations to drivers and more awareness about driving safely, he said.
One final question on incentive for traffic patrol: If we had 42% fewer fatalities, injuries, and collisions could this lead to 42% lower rates for car insurance?