The Traffic Division responds to concerns regarding speeding and cut-through traffic using the Three E's of Traffic Safety:

• Education
• Enforcement
• Engineering

Education

Drive Safely, Fremont! Traffic collisions cause thousands of injuries and deaths every year. Many of them can be prevented by being careful and maintaining good habits as you drive. We’ve put together a video to share with you the three biggest traffic safety threats in Frémont, and how you can help avoid them. Watch the video above and learn to be a good driver today!

The video can also be viewed directly on YouTube. 

Public education can be an effective tool to help change the attitude and behavior of drivers. Educational efforts aim at addressing the possibility that residents of the affected neighborhood are not attentive to the speeds that they are driving at and that modifications of their own driving behavior may solve the problem. These efforts are fairly cost-effective, but are typically found to solve the problem only in the short-term.

Techniques

The majority of these techniques help to reduce vehicle speeds, but most do not address the problem of cut-through traffic. Some types of educational efforts that can be used include:

• Neighborhood Meeting - Organize a meeting with the affected neighborhood to discuss the specific traffic issues for that neighborhood and recommend ways that the residents can personally reduce speeds and increase safety in their neighborhood.
• Signing - Post appropriate regulatory or warning signs to remind drivers of the traffic laws. Examples of signing that could be used to educate drivers of traffic laws include: speed limit, no outlet, pedestrian crossing, or school warning signs.
• Speed Trailer - Use a portable trailer equipped with a radar unit, which detects the speed of passing vehicles and displays it on a reader board. The trailer shows drivers their actual speed versus the posted speed limit and encourages compliance. The device also helps bystanders to gauge how fast the posted speed limit looks as drivers pass by.
• Traffic Safety Newsletter - Prepare a newsletter designed for a specific neighborhood describing the traffic concerns and recommendations. The newsletter may provide information on volumes and speeds in the area, as well as reminders of traffic laws and traffic safety tips.
• Turn Restrictions - Full or part-time turn restrictions may be used where a specific movement is creating a safety problem or where cut-through in a neighborhood is an issue.

Enforcement

Increased levels of law enforcement may encourage motorists to drive at the posted speeds or penalize those who do not. This approach is effective when consistently high levels of enforcement are implemented, which is a costly response to the problem.

Engineering

A structural modification is made to the roadway environment that either prohibits certain vehicular movements or encourages vehicles to drive at reduced vehicle speeds. These can include such structural modifications as roundabouts.