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San Rafael advisory panel hears traffic-safety briefing; members press for staffing, data fixes and equity
Summary
Police and public-works staff presented collision trends, enforcement priorities, Miovision signal detection and the local implications of AB 1778 for e-bikes; members and residents pressed for more traffic-enforcement staffing, corrected data, clearer reporting on drones and greater community education.
Lieutenant Alex Holm, of the San Rafael Police Department's traffic division, told the Police Advisory Committee at its May meeting that the unit aims to reduce dangerous driving by combining education, enforcement and engineering collaboration and currently consists of "a traffic sergeant, one corporal and two officers." Holm said the department uses collision statistics and community complaints to prioritize enforcement and that the department received about $105,000 in additional grant funding for 2025'2026 to support training, equipment and targeted enforcement campaigns.
Holm said the city measures response and collision data to identify where to focus resources but acknowledged errors in the slide deck shown to the committee: "Those numbers have been updated...there was a copy-and-paste error," he said, and staff promised amended slides and corrected calculations would be posted on the city website.
Kelly, a traffic engineering technician with Public Works, and Saeed Fakhri, the city traffic engineer, described engineering tools the city uses to address safety, including Miovision detection cameras downtown and emergency-vehicle preemption at key intersections. Fakhri reminded the committee that federal and state standards (the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and the California Vehicle Code) guide sign placement and signal timing and that some signal timing is controlled by Caltrans.
Members pressed staff on concrete goals and capacity. Member Alm recommended a staffing increase: "My number one recommendation is to increase staffing level for the traffic enforcement division to the minimum 7 to 8 officers so we can get additional coverage," Alm said. Chief-level staff acknowledged recent reorganizations and said the department hopes to return to larger specialized staffing when hiring allows.
Residents and committee members also raised equity and accountability concerns tied to police tools. A resident during public comment urged the PAC to consider whether expanded equipment and enforcement improved trust: "Just having police around at school does not create safety," the commenter said, and asked whether data had been collected to show whether drone deployment made Canal-area residents feel safer. Holm and other staff said overall priority-run response times improved since introducing drones, dropping from about 5 minutes 7 seconds to 4 minutes 14 seconds, but that perception data for specific neighborhoods "is not known" and that requests for additional data would be pursued.
On e-bikes the panel discussed Assembly Bill 1778, which allows jurisdictions to adopt local rules for certain e-bike classes. Holm said the law permits local restrictions for some Class 2 e-bikes and helmet requirements; members urged outreach to middle and high schools and recommended parent engagement in educational programs.
Several speakers pressed for better public reporting channels and clarity about nonemergency contacts and SeeClickFix submissions. Staff clarified that SeeClickFix is not monitored 24/7 and urged residents to use the Police Department's nonemergency line, (415) 485-3000, for time-sensitive safety concerns; they also promised follow-up on a spike in "unknown injury" crash classifications found in the slides.
The meeting produced several near-term deliverables: staff will post corrected slides and calculations, the Public Works team committed to explain Miovision's detection capabilities and privacy limits, and members asked that recommendations on staffing, e-bike education and targeted enforcement be included in the PAC's annual report to the City Council. A separate procedural motion to accept the April 15, 2026 minutes was made and recorded during the meeting; staff recorded the action for the record.
The committee closed with an emphasis on combining enforcement with engineering fixes and community education; resident advocates urged the PAC to prioritize street redesigns that reduce reliance on enforcement as part of a "safe systems" approach.
