City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

Morgan Hill, like most communities, places a high value on traffic safety. In response to these demands, the MHPD has a well-developed strategic plan and places traffic safety as the number one priority for the department. According to the strategic plan for the fiscal years 2011 to 2016, Outcome #1 is to reduce injury collisions by 5 percent. The “action plan” for the department at the time of the plan was to identify the top primary collision factors and top accident areas quarterly, provide quarterly messages via social media, work with the city engineering team to improve roadway safety, and deploy the radar trailer weekly in targeted areas. The strategic plan in the MHPD is not just a document that sits on a shelf. Visible signs of the outcome goals are displayed throughout the headquarters facility. The plan is an excellent one and it is communicated prominently to officers at work. Examination of the historical data on traffic collisions and injuries, however, indicates that the MHPD is struggling to meet these goals. Table 3-4 illustrates a seven-year history of traffic accidents in Morgan Hill. During this period, the number of total traffic accidents remained within a fairly narrow range. At the same time, however, the number of accidents involving injury grew significantly. This increase appears to be tied to a change in the State of California reporting requirements tied to minor injury collisions where a complaint of injury does not lead to hospital treatment. Those minor injury collisions, previously reported as property damage only collisions, are now reported as injury collision. Property damage only (PDO) accidents decreased 29.1 percent from 172 in 2009 to 122 in 2015, again supporting the conclusion that the changes are a result of reporting changes vs. the frequency of collisions.

TABLE 3-4: Traffic Accidents in Morgan Hill, 2009-2015

Total Accidents

Injury Accidents

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

PDO

220 217 197 218 213 213 209 213

172 147 146 134 137 127 122 141

48 70 51 84 76 86 87 72

7-Year Avg.

In general, traffic safety is improved by the rigorous application of the three “E’s”: enforcement, education, and engineering. The MHPD clearly understands this philosophy and has incorporated it into the strategic plan. In addition, the department has dedicated personnel resources to specifically address traffic issues in the community. With these two important variables present the department is positioned to achieve its goals. The following improvement opportunities are presented in order to bridge the gap between the identified goals and achieving them.

It appears that Traffic Division personnel are overburdened with non-essential administrative and support responsibilities. In addition to relieving them of some of these responsibilities, additional

Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California

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