Residents press Gilroy council for stronger school-zone safety after recent crash

Residents at a Gilroy public meeting urged faster, more visible action to slow traffic and protect students after the mayor said the city initiated a traffic study following a recent serious accident.

At the meeting, a resident asked, "Have we figured out what we're going to do about safety of [our] schools... to slow people down?" City Administrator Matt Mley and councilmembers said staff will review the forthcoming traffic study and bring recommendations back to the council for consideration. Mley and other officials emphasized choices must reflect available resources.

Multiple residents recounted local road conditions and crashes on corridors such as Ren and Al Certo and described deaths and collisions they said have occurred there. One resident said installing a stop sign or lowering the speed limit felt like "common sense," while staff explained that speed-limit changes generally require engineering findings tied to measured speeds.

Council and staff outlined a mix of approaches: education and outreach in schools (safe-route lessons and bike training), targeted enforcement with rotating motor officers at schools, physical changes such as painted daylighting zones and protected crossings, and citizen reporting through the Gway Connect app to prompt tree trimming or enforcement. The mayor noted the police department is staffed at about "75% of what a town of 60,000 people normally would be," limiting continuous enforcement.

Officials also discussed automated enforcement options and legal limits: staff said red-light cameras are allowable, but automated speed cameras are generally not permissible under current state law except in a few jurisdictions, so the city's authority for speed-camera programs is restricted. Councilmembers said they remain open to discussing enforcement tools and revenue options but must weigh costs, public reaction and state rules.

Councilmembers encouraged residents to report problem locations through the app so staff can collect data and deploy speed trailers or other limited countermeasures; they said the city will attempt to apply lessons from the injury-related study to other school sites rather than study each location separately. No formal vote or new ordinance was proposed at this meeting.