Oakland Walks!

OakDOT
Establish policies to clarify that
enforcing traffic safety should
not be based on racial profiling.
In 2014, the City of Oakland partnered with
Stanford’s SPARQ (Social Psychological
Answers to Real-world Questions) program
to examine the relationship between the
Oakland Police Department (OPD) and the
Oakland community to develop evidencebased
strategies for any racial disparities that
emerged. The report found that OPD officers
stopped, searched, handcuffed, and arrested
more African Americans than Whites and that
African American men were four times more
likely to be searched than Whites during a
traffic stop. This was consistent even when the
researchers controlled for variables such as the
crime rate. 10 Enforcement, while an important
tool in pedestrian safety, must be applied in
a method that does not create further racial
disparities. Acknowledging these known issues,
Oakland could establish a policy articuLatinog
that enforcing traffic safety should not further
impact racial disparities or racial profiling
through enforcement activities.
Work with advocates to change
state laws related to speed
limits and automated speed
enforcement. Additionally develop
local policies augmenting the
California Manual on Uniform
Traffic Control Devices.
To set speed limits in Oakland, the DOT must
follow state law which requires that speed limits
be set based on the “prevailing speed.” The
prevailing speed is determined by a field survey
along a road of vehicle speeds and calculation
of the 85 th percentile speed. For example, if
100 vehicle speeds are plotted, the speed limit
would be set to the speed at or near the speed
of the 15 th fastest vehicle. Minor rounding is
allowed, but nothing more than 5 mph. This
is why many traffic engineers are reluctant to
perform additional speed surveys. In California
there is an exception the prevailing speed/85th
percentile law: school zones are exempt from
speed surveys and can mandate 25 mph when
children are present.
Currently, automated speed enforcement (ASE)
is not legal in the state of California, although
it has worked in several other municipalities as
a tool that can reduce speed. Oakland could
work with advocates to change state law to
allow ASE. This could also avoid the implicit
bias that can occur in police enforcement given
that the camera sees a license plate, not a face.
The California Manual on Uniform Traffic
Control Devices (CA MUTCD) provides uniform
standards and specifications for all official
traffic control devices in California. While the
manual is the official guide for traffic control, it
often lacks local context. Oakland could develop
specific standards that augment existing
CA-MUTCD guidance, such as establishing
a maximum distance between protected
pedestrian crossings in commercial districts,
along residential arterials, and near schools.
10. See Strategies for Change: Research Initiatives and Recommendations To
Improve Police-Community Relations in Oakland, Calif., (June 2016) and Data
for Change: A Statistical Analysis of Police Stops, Searches, Handcuffings, and
Arrests in Oakland, Calif., 2013-2014 (June 2016).
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