Study shows injuries decline up to 20 percent with slower city speed limits: Roadshow
Plus, more suggestions on how to best memorialize Safeway worker Manny Huizar
Q: Sadly, there was another speeding tragedy, at Leigh and Blossom Hill. When will this end? Yellow means STOP, if possible, not GO. I’m at Hamilton. Leigh is a racetrack here. I hear it every day. One second is all you get at a light before drivers hit their horn. Relax, y’all, and you and we will live longer, happier lives.
Robert Wahler, San Jose
A: Yes, yellow means come to a stop, not race through the intersection.
As for speeding, a recent study in Seattle showed that lowering speed limits on arterial streets, where a large majority of accidents occur, cut the chance of injury in accidents by 20 percent.
“Everybody thinks of highways when we talk about speed limits, but reducing speeds on city thoroughfares and residential streets is just as important,” said Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) president David Harkey. The IIHS sponsored the Seattle study.
Researchers looked at the proportion of crashes involving fatal, serious or evident injuries, comparing injury rates with three control cities in Washington where there were no known changes to speed limits over the study period. The proportion of crashes with injuries dropped on major roads in the three years after the speed limit reductions in the downtown area of Seattle, while the proportion of crashes involving injuries increased in the control cities.
Q: In response to all of the letters concerning a memorial for Manny Huizar at Safeway, I think that it is beautiful that so many people are offering to fund a permanent memorial. I do think that there should be a memorial, but I do not think that it should be a roadside memorial. He was not killed in a traffic accident.
I feel that the memorial should be permanent, at the front of or inside the Safeway store. Further, I feel strongly that Safeway should gladly fund the entire bill for the memorial. This young man was clearly dedicated to his job, and gave his life trying to protect his employer’s bottom line.
If Safeway needs a precedent, they need only to go to their store in Santa Clara on The Alameda. Embedded in stonework on the front of that Safeway is a memorial plaque for a construction worker killed in an accident while remodeling the store.
Safeway should show its appreciation for such a dedicated employee as Manny Huizar, and forever honor him.
B.B. Kirby, San Jose
A: There’s further precedent for this. Westgate Mall placed a plaque near its main entrance soon after the shooting death in downtown San Jose some years ago of a police officer who was also a security guard at the mall.
Look for Gary Richards at facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.