On the street where you live

BY CHERI RAE
Last Friday morning started off with a bang. Literally. The young driver speeding through the neighborhood on his way to Santa Barbara High School—as so many do— smashed into brand-new sedan creeping into the street from the mid-block alley. Immediately after the impact, the perpetrator came charging out of his car, screaming at the driver whose car he had just totaled.
This is not the first time an accident has occurred at exactly the same spot with exactly the same result. While property damage was significant, and the accident was traumatic to both drivers and witnesses, thankfully, no bodily injuries were apparent, and no pedestrians were involved.
Not yet.

But it’s obvious that one day, sooner than we can imagine, when the Fire Department and police officers are summoned, they’ll need to be accompanied by an ambulance, too.
Ironically, this accident took place in the middle of the Lower Riviera neighborhood where the so-called traffic calming devices—referred to as mini-roundabouts or cursed as street obstructions, depending on your point of view—have been installed to slow traffic. There’s one located at the end of the block from where the accident happened.
While the speeds may decrease at the actual spot where the devices have been installed, drivers often tend to speed up between them. That is certainly the case on Victoria Street, which has become a virtual raceway in the past couple of years. In fact, less than a month ago, the police department had placed a machine to make drivers aware of their high speeds on the 25-mile per hour street—a half-block from where last week’s accident occurred.
The factors that entered into this accident on this street bring into sharp focus the problems residents of Santa Barbara’s neighborhoods—particularly those near downtown—are forced to deal with as a result of the city’s policy of packing more and more people into smaller and smaller spaces.
There are hidden costs to the City’s determination to densify our neighborhoods without considering the consequences. The policy of allowing rampant building, modifications and bonus units has changed the character and safety of the place where we live. Yet when neighbors who live with these alarming and dangerous changes point them out, we’re told that our City officials know what’s better for us than we do.
They blithely approve more, more, more, somehow believing that if they make us miserable enough, they will change human nature, human desire and the consumer culture that emphasizes cars not just as a mode of transportation, but as a symbol of adulthood, desirability and fun. It’s not happening. The fact is, at least around here, no one is giving up their cars, they’re just parking them farther away from where they live, anywhere they can find a spot, even blocks away.
The kid who caused Friday’s accident was barely 16, driving an enormous SUV he had inherited from his grandfather, between 35 and 45 miles per hour according to the police officer. Shortly after they crash he said, “That car means everything to me.” His own personal rite of passage put everyone on the street at risk.
Those candidates who walk our precincts at election time, boldly claiming their credentials as “neighborhood advocates” rarely return to witness the results of their decisions.
If they bothered to check in they would learn what neighbors already know. There are too many cars parked on century-year-old streets because nearby developments don’t have enough parking spots for all their residents; a narrow alley never designed to handle much traffic is now used as a major access way for a 99-unit complex; formerly owner-occupied homes turned into multi-occupant rentals, each occupant with at least one car; legal “infill” development turning single family homes into multi-unit condominiums; illegal “granny” units, and converted garages rented out as monthly, weekend or vacation rentals—and the cars associated with them. And hundreds more units planned within just a few blocks.
It’s confusing, congested and dangerous enough for longtime drivers and residents familiar with the neighborhood to make their way around. Add inexperienced, elderly and distracted drivers—all hurrying because they’re late and traffic is slow—who avoid clogged main arteries by cutting through residential streets instead to make up time, and, well, accidents happen. Apparently it’s just the price of progress.
It wasn’t too long ago when the kids in the neighborhood, young and old, could play Frisbee or toss a football in the street. But nobody does that anymore. Our “traffic-calmed” streets are more stressful than ever—for drivers, pedestrians and those who just might dare to cross to the other side.