Glendale commission reviews Vision Zero crash analysis, appoints member to project development team

Glendale’s Transportation and Parking Commission on July 28 noted an update on the city’s Vision Zero action plan and selected a commissioner to serve on the plan’s project development team.

The update, delivered by Sam Frommer of consultant Bureau Apple, outlined a 10-year crash analysis and identified a high-injury network that comprises 13 percent of Glendale streets but accounts for roughly 71 percent of injury crashes and nearly 80 percent of killed or severely injured crashes in the city.

The Vision Zero effort aims to “eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all,” Frommer told commissioners. He said pedestrian crashes account for a disproportionate share of severe crashes — 17 percent of all crashes but about 45 percent of killed-or-severe-injury (KSI) crashes — and that motorcycle-involved crashes similarly show a higher share of KSI incidents than their share of total crashes.

The consultant team described concentration of crashes along major and minor arterials in South and West Glendale, noting that those areas also have higher population and destinations, including large streets that connect to freeways. Frommer said the project identified nine priority locations for conceptual countermeasures that range from near-term, lower-cost treatments to longer-term capital improvements, and that the draft Vision Zero action plan and an interactive GIS dashboard are under internal review.

Ismael Carajal Perez, planning associate with the city, said staff needs one commission representative to join the project development team. Commissioner comments at the meeting emphasized the value of including recent police data; one commissioner asked the consultant to include 2022–2023 preliminary crash counts on the plan’s charts to better show post-pandemic trends. Frommer said the consultant received 2023 KSI data directly from the Glendale Police Department and reported 31 KSI crashes for 2023.

Commissioners also described walk audits, outreach at community events and a recent open house held as part of the planning process. Frommer said outreach consistently flagged speeding, failures to stop or yield, blocked and faded crosswalks, sidewalk obstructions and inaccessible intersections as community concerns.

The commission voted to note and file the project update and to appoint a commissioner to serve on the Vision Zero project development team. The motion to take both actions passed on roll call; commissioners recorded votes of “yes.”

The consultant and staff said the draft action plan, countermeasure concepts for the nine priority locations and the GIS dashboard will undergo internal review before materials are published for additional public review and used to guide project design and coordination with public works.

The presentation and appointment came during a special meeting focused largely on street-safety planning; staff said the Vision Zero work will complement the city’s Local Road Safety Plan and other ongoing mobility efforts.

The commission did not adopt specific capital projects at the meeting; staff and the consultant said the next steps include finalizing internal reviews, publishing the dashboard, and coordinating design and implementation steps with Public Works and partner departments.