My Safest Route to School

Score = exposure + speed + control gap + 1.5 × known harm. Each factor is 0–3. Known harm: 1 = named in the walk audit; 2 = two or more parent reports, or an older or minor police-reported collision within 60 m; 3 = five or more parent reports, or an injury collision to a pedestrian or bicyclist within 60 m since 2015 (state SWITRS data). Exposure rises by one where three or more families named the street as their route to school. For schools other than McNear the other values are estimated from the audit text and OpenStreetMap; use "Suggest a change" to correct them. Click a row to zoom the map.

Parent-reported corners the walk audit did not cover

Intersections named in the Spring 2023 parent survey (from the School Travel Plans) that are not within 70 m of any audited location. Counts are separate parent entries. These are candidates for the next walk audit, not ranked items.

Completed since the audit

Location	What was done

The ask to the City, by timeline

Control type follows the hierarchy of controls: engineering works every crossing all day; paint and signs are engineering too but cheap and fast; administrative measures (guards, enforcement, speed limits) depend on people showing up. Cost bands: $ under $10k, $$ $10–50k, $$$ over $50k. For schools other than McNear, measures are the audit's own proposed solutions, classified automatically.

When	Location	Measure	Control	Cost

Guard score = 1.5 × student flow + crossing hazard + known harm + volunteer fit, minus 1.5 where a flashing beacon (RRFB) is already installed. Each factor is 0–3. A post only makes the list if a volunteer can stand there safely at a marked crossing. Disagree with a number? Use "Suggest a change" on the crossing.

Before anyone stands in the street

Authority. Under California Vehicle Code 2815, drivers must obey a crossing guard who is appointed by the city or authorized by the police department and wearing the official uniform. A parent volunteer without that authorization has no legal standing to stop traffic and should not step off the curb. Ask Petaluma PD to authorize and train the volunteer roster and to issue vests and STOP paddles. Until then, volunteers escort children in groups through existing gaps and watch for drivers; they do not direct traffic.
Count first. Two mornings, one parent per crossing with a tally sheet: students crossing, vehicles passing, drivers who failed to stop or yield. California's crossing-guard guidance keys on roughly 40 school pedestrians an hour combined with vehicle volume, and the City will want those numbers before it funds a paid guard. Enter the counts in the student-flow factor above and the ranking updates.
Student safety patrol. An AAA School Safety Patrol lets fifth and sixth graders run the drop-off loop so adult volunteers go to the crossings.

Where an in-street crossing sign would help

In-street pedestrian crossing signs (the flexible centerline sign reading "Stop/Yield for pedestrians within crosswalk") work in one situation: a marked crosswalk with no stop sign or signal, on a two-lane street at 30 mph or less, with a centerline to mount on. There, studies find driver yielding roughly doubles or better, for a few hundred dollars a sign. They do nothing at a stop-controlled corner, they are not allowed at signals, and they become a hazard on multi-lane or faster roads. They get hit, so budget replacements. The City places them; a school cannot put one in the street on its own, though some cities let schools set them out on school days under an encroachment permit.

California law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk (Vehicle Code 21950), so the sign the City would install is the YIELD version (R1-6); the STOP version is for states whose law says stop. Ask for the sign by that name.

Candidates below were found automatically from OpenStreetMap: marked crosswalks with no stop or signal within 25 m, on two-lane streets posted 30 mph or less, within half a mile of the school. Ranked by whether the crossing is an audit location, posted speed, and distance to school. Verify each in the field; OSM can be wrong about markings and control.

Three sources do most of the work: TIMS (every police-reported collision in California, geocoded, free with registration), Street Story (the near-misses that never become a report), and the Petaluma PD / Fire CAD records you have to ask for. Everything else is context.

Source	What it gives you	Access	How it feeds this map

Collisions on this map

Recent pedestrian collisions from press and district reports (not yet in the state database)

Date	Location	What happened	Source

Citywide context from the 2022 Local Road Safety Plan (GHD for the City): about 2,500 crashes in five years; 95 pedestrian collisions on city streets since 2016, most of them in crosswalks at intersections. The plan's top pedestrian-collision intersections are all on the east side (E. Washington & Maria, Caulfield & St. Francis, Caulfield & Payran, Casa Grande & McDowell). California OTS ranked Petaluma 54th of 103 similar cities for pedestrian victims in 2023 (14 killed or injured) and 16th for bicyclists (22).

Photo checklist and QR codes for each crossing

Street View is a starting point, not evidence. Google's imagery around these schools is one to three years old and shows a summer afternoon, not a school morning. Each card links to Street View at the location. For McNear the cards also summarize what the imagery shows and what has changed since. Photos taken at bell time are better than any of it.

What to photograph at each crossing

Driver's view of the crosswalk from about 100 ft back on each approach, at driver eye height. This is the photo the City's traffic engineer wants.
Paint and ramps: the crosswalk bars straight on from the curb, and each curb ramp.
Every sign facing each approach, including the school-zone speed sign, and a short video of any beacon at bell time to show whether it flashes and how bright it is.
The sight triangle from the corner: parked cars within 20 ft, hedges, poles, bins.
Child's eye view at about 4 ft, looking for cars from the curb.
Bell time: where kids actually cross, cars queuing, anyone in the crosswalk.

Attach photos to the suggestion form (link and QR code on each crossing). Suggestions and photos are reviewed and added to the map in the next update.

Full Public Records Act request text

Send to the City Clerk at cityclerk@cityofpetaluma.org. The text fills in the school you have selected.