Media's Public Safety ** Deserves More** Than An Awareness Campaign!

Based on last week’s Public Safety meeting agenda, that included a line item petition for traffic calming; I was interested to find out more about that.  My main concerns, along with those who actually signed the petition, was what did the Public Safety committee have proposed that wasn’t already attempted?  Vehicles (and bikers) for the most part roll through Media’s stop-signs with impunity and have been for years.  Truthfully, it’s almost brash, to the point that motorists don’t even tap the brakes to slow down anymore.  As for speeding, I’m only now take notices when someone actually does the speed limit anymore.  Check out 6th Street, between 7 and 8am.

March agenda items

The meeting went on for about 90 minutes and was run well by Council Vice President, Paul Robinson.  Aside from the bike path agenda item, it was snappy, organized and kept on track. I usually don’t attend these meetings because they ‘swirl’ too much, but Paul got through this well.  I appreciate that.

Aside from myself, there were two other residents in the audience.  I thought there would have been more since someone took the time to organize a petition.

Well, what came out of the 20 or so minute discussion wasn’t groundbreaking, new, or something that hasn’t been tried before:  It centered on public awareness, or perhaps more to the point, a behavioral change campaign.  I have a few problems with that strategy: It doesn’t and hasn’t worked.   It also wasn’t defined, aside from the Media Police Department buying yard signs, as to how a campaign would be setup, paid for, implemented, promoted and measured.  

Nobody is consciously thinking about a traffic calming campaign they saw when blowing through a Monroe Street stop signed.  However, a hefty fine will.   Although I did think the following ad shown above was clever in promoting pedestrian safety,  I doubt it has much effective after a day.

If Media Borough can give out $1,000,000 gifts, high-risk unsecured loans, and potentially ~$40,000 for sharrows,  then it could, if it was serious, research what it would cost to increase police patrols.  Even marginally may have a noticeable impact. It could also see what hefty fines could be imposed for offenders.  A $300 ticket for rolling through a stop sign ought to get the word out quick.  What about stop-sign cameras?  They were so successful in California that they brought windfalls of revenue to the municipalities that used them.