We can get everybody to come out.

Go ahead and get started.

Five, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Five, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fourteen.

Okay.

Vice Mayor Bobby Buckley.

Here.

Council Member Chuck Bongiovanni.

Here.

Council Member Monty Lyons.

Council Member Jim Torkison.

Here.

A quorum is present.

Thank you.

We have one item on the agenda presentation and discussion on the traffic safety signage pilot.

Thanks, Suzanne.

You were doing this.

Well, I guess it would be evening after five, wherever you want to mark that, right?

So thank you, Mayor and Council members, for us allowing us to come before you to get to that next stead stage of that question that we had back in May on what can we do to help with some of the safety on our transportation system here.

So the team has been working very diligently, and that team includes PD, it includes traffic engineering as well as we have OCE that has been here helping us as well through that, and some guidance from our town manager's office to present to you tonight a pilot program for some traffic signage that we think will improve the awareness of how drivers' behaviors can also support you know reducing fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.

So our why, and we always like to start with that is you know, every loss, every every life that gets lost on Gilbert's roads, we recognize alters a family, it alters things that it is a tragedy, it is forever, and it also ends that future in an abrupt manner.

So you know, what we believe is that safe mobility is a fundamental expectation for all in Gilbert, whether you're commuting in a vehicle or whether that means you're walking or cycling.

Our transportation system includes all of those items and should be safe.

So that's why we did our dedicated to addressing traffic safety through collaboration, innovation, and commitment to provide safe mobility on traffic systems for all users to reach the end of their trips safely.

So we're here to basically do that.

That's our why, that's what we're always looking at.

But we also want to I want to point out we recognize as we presented to you back in May, it's not just engineering that solves the problem, it's not just enforcement solves the problem.

It takes all of us, inclusive of the driver, to make a difference to help us with this safe transportation system.

So just an update on some current status.

In 2024, we had approximately 3,615 traffic crashes in the in the community.

Of those 15 crashes resulted in 17 fatalities, too many.

One is too many.

Factors that were cited to do that include anything from field failure to yield the ride-away through some speeding, just disregard uh traffic signals.

Um, and this comes from what happens every time PDE has to basically look at a crash or come up on a crash.

They have to document what it is that caused that, and that is then shared with our traffic department to look at it and say, what can we do in that enforcement area?

What can we do in the engineering area and how do we get there?

So this is where that's at, and I'm going to tell you that we've also looked at our surrounding cities with some of this.

This is about 0.41% or 0.45% of our traffic crashes end up in a fatality or a serious injury.

So it's not good.

It's not some place that we want to be, but I will tell you that we are not at the high range within the state.

We are really kind of in the low range of that of the state in that in that statistic.

Um we have everything from 1.15% all the way down to less than I think four point four percent in there, and we're closer to that bottom line of that.

So our goal with this pilot program, and I think we had a lot of discussion back in May, and we did some follow-up with you on some emails.

Our goal was really to develop a signage pilot program that is looking at reducing unsafe driving behaviors by our people that are in those vehicles that may be crossing roadways by walking, etc.

etc.

And provide you provide them with some thought-provoking traffic signage.

The content on that signage should make drivers pause, reflect and adjust their habits, thereby decreasing traffic violations, accidents, and fidelities.

And I think that was the direction you guys gave us back in May to proceed with that.

And so the team has worked very collaborative and worked through some innovation methods to basically develop a signing program that we can hopefully start providing awareness to our citizens how they can support an ability to reduce those fatalities and serious injuries.

Some of the parameters that were set through this was messaging messaging must be able to be, I guess, perceived or received by not just an older driver but a younger driver.

So we're trying to look at every single audience out there and give them an opportunity to see something and understand that I gotta think about what I'm doing.

What am I doing?

We want it to be impactful, but we want to also be considered in the fact that some accidents have have changed people's lives, and it has been a tragic thing.

So we're trying to do that with our parameters as well.

We have set a duration of about six months for this signing right now, starting October 1st, is when we would like to launch this and then continue it through the six busiest months of the year, and we would be working around the election cycles as we move through that.

So we did identify, I think when my email to you back in June, we identified at least one or two intersections.

We've expanded those intersections to ten.

Four of those actually have data tracking available to us today.

The other six do not.

But we looked at it from a perspective of saying where are total crashes occurring, what is the severity of the types of accidents and incidences that are having, how many of those involved a left turn challenge, and how many of them may have occurred based off a red light lining running.

So we ran a matrix to determine that.

And these are basically the 10 um locations that we feel both met basically may meet a place where we think signage may have an impact and uh provide that awareness to our citizens.

So in addition to that, we recognize that not only the signage needs to be there, but we also need to start looking at tracking how do we say that this is making an impact.

And so our traffic engineering group will continue to man monitor the crash data as we already do, but continue to do that, and especially in those areas where the signage is at and look at that more intensely.

What we don't have in our traffic camera system right now is a way to basically record and store some of the data that the traffic cameras can bring up.

But we're on the edge of basically being able to provide that into our system and be able to do that.

And some of that is a signal performance measure system that we would be putting in, and we're pretty close to being able to start applying that, and then also looking into some near-miss and analytics.

So the team is looking through some of that, but we we don't have it quite in place right now, but we're hopeful that we'll be able to start applying that as we move forward with that.

So I'm gonna leave it here at this point in time.

Don't know if you have any questions, but I think the next piece of this will show the innovation that's come about with the collaboration of all these groups to get this done.

So for you.

I'm gonna turn it over to the next one.

Council member Monty Vani.

Thank you, Mayor.

So that thank you.

Um the the data on the on the deaths, unfortunately.

I'm sorry, ask again.

We saw that we saw the data on the causes uh that that caused death.

Of the other traffic uh collisions, would anyone know?

Are we talking more the can uh uh accidents due to running red lights or any any information on those that did not cause fatalities?

Um the reasons for those crashes.

So we have some in there that you see on those crashes where we have the unknowns and the non-injuries, and so we look at those as well just to see if we can identify what those causes are.

I'm assuming that's what you're asking.

I'm asking what is the number one cause of accidents today, based on that list there, not on fatalities but accidents.

Um I think the most of them are in that in that field where it is a um failure to yield the right-of-way and/or the right angle angle hits.

So those are the items that we're looking at in most most frequent um time frame to say how can engineering be applied to support and help some of that.

Okay, thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Um Susanna.

Um I just have a couple of questions.

One, I I would like to know on the signage that you're doing.

What are you doing?

Oops that actually will make a uh, you know, like someone driving down the street see that sign because sometimes we're oblivious, we're in our own little world, like to get to a town council meeting.

And uh is it gonna be at night like lit up?

I'm I'm sure it probably will be, but I'd like to know like colors and what you're doing and and how when I drive down the street, I'm gonna notice that sign to make a difference in my driving.

I think Candace will be interested in that.

I appreciate that.

I think that question, and I will tell you that I think Candace is really gonna fill in a lot of those that information for you to say how are we gonna apply this?

How are we gonna implement it and what's it gonna look like?

And she's got some really cool stuff to share with you.

So that's great.

I didn't realize she was gonna be speaking after you.

So absolutely.

I apologize for making that work under sure.

Council member Corey.

I just I see failed to yield the right of way.

I assume that would be running a red when somebody needs to make a left-hand turn or something like that.

Correct.

So that's running a red.

Uh the disregarding a traffic signal.

Maybe that's running a red.

That's possibly as well.

Okay.

All right.

I appreciate it.

I'll let you know, these are things that Chief basically usually uh, you know, indicates for us, so I'll let him describe how they basically log that.

Thank you.

Mayor and a council member Bongyov.

Sorry, Turkison.

Now I can see you.

Put on my glasses.

Yeah, uh failure to yield right away is someone yielding to oncoming traffic.

So the failure to uh obey the traffic control device, that's gonna be your red light running.

Uh that makes and the prayer question about uh the primary causes looking at um our 23 to 25 data.

Failure to yield right away was our uh number one violation.

Uh speed too fast for conditions was followed next.

Unknown 1200 after that.

So those are your top two.

Thank you.

And just go for it.

Thank you to you.

Hi, Marin Council, good to see you.

Um, now that you guys understand kind of the the parameters of the pilot program and and and kind of the the research that was done to really inform, you're gonna get to see the design approach.

And I know there's some sign experts, and so we wanted to make sure that you guys saw we understood uh the best practices of large format signs, um, the best practices of message and strategy, and then we'll show you some options.

To that point, there are core design principles when it comes to large format, large format is anything from billboards, um, probably taller than me, anything of that nature.

Uh but there's a qu three that we really kind of wanted to hearken to.

Six-second rule, which is making sure that we understand drivers have about six seconds to absorb any type of message, which means we need to keep it short and sweet, anywhere from six to eight words on a sign.

Um, usually we try to keep it even smaller than that, but that is the best practice.

Also, visual hierarchy, we go by the three two one rule, three seconds to see it, two seconds to read it, and hopefully one second to really understand that.

So placing that most important messaging at the top or right there front and center is hopefully gonna help that retention.

And then lastly, high color contrast combo, um, making sure, especially from an ADA standpoint, but just making sure dark text on light backgrounds or vice versa is being utilized.

I know Councilmember Torgeson, we talked about yet yellow and black, and you might see some of that um coming up, but very much those types of stark uh contrast is gonna be highly utilized.

Additionally, from a message retention strategies, overall it needs to be clear, direct, memorable, and we are recommending seasonal because this is a six-month pilot within uh the most high traffic seasons within Arizona.

We understand there's Halloween coming up, Christmas, New Year's, et cetera.

And so it might be um, you know, to our advantage to utilize that as well.

Overall, single concept, making sure it's one clear message per sign.

Again, we only have a limited time with them.

Message impact, there's various ways that we can message, whether it's a little bit of curiosity, humor, mild surprise, um, and and just making sure again to Sienna's Susanna's in point um input of we need to be considerate of those, you know, sensitive uh to to potential tragedies.

Uh and then repetition when featuring those multiple boards, varying execution is fine, but consistent messaging will help with recall and retention.

And then obviously a strong call to action.

What can I do as a driver to help keep our road safe?

All right, let's get into sign options.

As an as a reminder, we have various evergreen messaging, and then you're gonna start to see some seasonal as we're getting into Halloween, and then we have one that we'd like to explore.

It will take a community effort and community partnership, but we would like to show you additional way to explore that.

First one, no text is worth a wreck.

Again, distracted driving.

Eyes on the road, not your phone.

Here's where we get into seasonal, but also as a reminder, we are catering to all generations, not just old, but a little bit younger, maybe just first-time drivers.

This is very much Gen Z and I think uh Mayor, you even use this in your Gen Z scripts that you had for MayaC, but it's giving too fast, and you can kind of see that visual approach in terms of showing that snail to slow down.

Slow down speed racer, speed thrills until it kills.

Here you see a little bit of that Halloween.

Left turns kill when you don't chill.

Break for booze, watch for pedestrians and cyclists.

Zooming through the night, you might miss what's in sight.

Distraction is the real monster, keep it out of the driver's seat.

And this next one that I'm gonna show you is the one that would really require community partnership.

And again, being considerate of the sensitivities of those that have been affected by tragedies, we would want to partner with a family or friend, uh, friends that were affected by this, and hopefully, you know, to utilize and and and partner with them to show really it is a life cut too short, is because of distracted driving.

So this is just an example.

We have uh a sample photo we blurted out for sensitive sensitivity purposes, but if we can partner with a family that wants to be involved and really create this effort to show how important it is to be safe to not have a life cut too short.

Uh, this is again exploratory.

We would want to, you know, seek out partnership with families and friends that that would want to have a voice in this.

Additionally, future opportunities again.

Signs is just one example of effort and awareness to truly make an impact and engagement.

We need community participation, and these future opportunities are just that, finding ways to connect with the community and get them involved.

One of them was a design contest with high school students.

They can see that there's some clever cleverness to it and humor.

I'm sure you guys have seen the ADOT examples as you're driving.

Those are clever, and I remember those.

I even remember the Star Wars or the drunk driving.

It it retained.

So being able to involve the youth community in it would probably go pretty far.

Uh this again is just a signage pilot.

So we do recommend a full court press in terms of an a campaign where it's social media, maybe even developing stickers similar to those signs that we can pass out to individuals and uh at upcoming events.

The seasonal signage beyond Halloween, we would continue to explore other signage around uh big big uh commemorative uh holidays, and then lastly, expanding to additional intersection.

I I can't remember the number, but we saw just you know several or uh less than a dozen.

So we would want to expand that by based off of the learnings that we're gonna see within this pilot opportunity.

There are also some logistics that we anticipate.

There are printing.

We're but want to start out with about 40 signs with heavy duty stakes, and then we've already anticipated a replacement schedule again to anticipate and ensure that there is uh they're keeping top of mind, they're staying fresh and on point in terms of what's going on within within the within the time in the months.

Installation's gonna take about 200 hours of our team, various teams, primarily uh engineering and and traffic, and then also data analysis.

We want to make sure we're monitoring efficacy as best as possible.

Susanna did show that there are some limited tracking in terms of traffic.

Uh, we will do our best in terms of seeing if anybody will be sharing this on socially organically, but if that is very much a bit of a more manual pool, unless someone's tagging us or utilizing a certain hashtag or whatnot.

But we will do our best to find that organically within within social communities.

Then from there, uh, next steps.

Uh, if everyone, you know, based off of feedback that we're getting today, we'd finalize, refine any of those signs, and begin installation by October 1st.

We try to create again new signs every six to eight weeks to keep refreshed, maintain that signage until the end of March, continue to analyze the data to see what is really engaging the community or under you know resonating with the community, and then we would of course do a report out to the to the council to see to to uh share our learnings.

All right, that's all I had.

Any questions, feedback?

Questions.

That's a member Koprowski.

Candace.

First, I was really nervous.

These signs were going to be competing with traffic control signs, but now I'm seeing that they're more like roadside advertisements, communication devices.

Um I like what you have showed.

I'm uh I'm wondering where the 10 locations came from and the 40 signs, because that's less than 5% of our signalized intersections.

And I don't know, just seeing these signs.

I don't have a lot of reservations about the messaging if it can make a difference and help outreach to the community.

I'm just wondering why we can't expand these to other locations or a larger set of locations.

I guess we can definitely explore that and see what that looks like from an expansive state.

I think uh in terms of tracking is probably helps to have a little bit more of a saturated or dense area to understand, and then we can evolve from there.

Um, but we can definitely explore expanding from the get-go as well.

Okay, thank you.

Susanna, did you have something to add?

I was just gonna say that our first start was these 10 intersections.

We do expect that we'll be going beyond those 10.

But for right now, we kind of looked at some areas that we thought maybe the a really good place for people to start noticing in them, and then we'll look to basically expand them based off of what we're seeing in some of the response to them.

Councilmember Torgison I just wanted to go back to we call it the KISS rule keep it simple and stupid but your three two one make sure to keep that down because a lot of that messaging was well beyond what's general generally reasonable I tell my clients all the time you've got all these bullet points nobody's stopping and getting out of their car and reading it but like let's say a life cut short because of a drunk you know or does it whatever it was could just be by a because you're wanting to get them to absorb it.

So really pay attention that because the the shorter that message the more likely they are to read it and absorb it.

So I just wanted to make that comment not that not that I'm gonna write your messaging for you but I'd like to see it as concise as possible.

Yeah that was a really nice way to put somebody was killed by an idiot thank you.

Councilmember Bongivani thank you mayor I I like the direction it's going um the 321 rule would prove to me that our big yellow public notice signs are failing obviously um I like the I wish I hope we can get more family um partnership I think I think seeing more than one person uh put a you know an actual face to it of the to the tragedies um yeah I'd like to see a little more of those but otherwise I I like what I what I saw so far mayor um I I like the idea of the signs I I'm a lot more serious than that because this is a really serious issue and I agree with councilmember Torgison my concern is we don't want it so big and so much on it that that and that sign in itself will be a distraction especially to teenagers that may think that's funny or they may have the opposite effect they may attempt to try and do the opposite of what you're saying because that's a teenager's mentality.

So that's just my thought on that and um but you know I I I'm for anything that's going to make us safer um I I didn't have any input on any of this because and and as everybody knows I was more for the red lights because I can you know the the red light tickets and and mainly because that it's not another distraction but I can tell you if I knew Gilbert had you know the the red light tickets then I would for sure be conscious of that to make sure that I don't run a red light.

So I would like to if if we don't get the results or if we have sadly any bad issues come of the signage I want I would like to see and have the opportunity for the red light um signals or or the the red light tickets to come into play and I I think it's worthy of a study session and I think it's worthy of being further discussed and I don't know if young will will agree with me on that she's the traffic person but uh I've looked at statistics from Tempe and there you know their their statistics are incredible the the lower accidents the the lower fatalities so that's that's kind of where I am there but I'm I'm anxious to see what it does.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kaprowski Council Member Buckley I would absolutely support the red light and speed um safety cameras uh but staying on topic and this particular pilot project I just wanted to add that I think that if people are seeing these and they feel like they have to comment they might use the Gilbert 311 app and I think that there might be an option for signs but it might be helpful to either have like a pilot traffic safety sign link or even being able to provide information through our 311 app mayor councilmember Koprowski that's a great great recommendation and thank you everyone else for for the feedback we'll definitely regroup um most likely refine some things but appreciate the feedback when it comes to the signs we're excited to get this started.

Member Bongivani thank you mayor I can't do the math in my head so uh is this going to interfere with the election cycle signs because if Torguson's face is out of sign might cause more accidents Mayor council member Bongiovanni uh I do believe we are within the area that uh campaign signage also would coming but we are very aware of potentially making sure that it is not uh interfering with any upcoming signage that might come in play.

I do believe we are within the area that uh campaign signage also would commingle, but we are very aware of potentially making sure that it is not uh interfering with any upcoming signage that might come in play.

I wasn't worried about that.

I was more worried about too many signs out there, so we want to see what the time frame was there.

Because this is important.

So thank you.

Councilmember Lyons.

Uh just real quick, I didn't know if you on these intersections where we're looking at or the places we're looking at putting these.

Are we collecting data now to see what the current state is?

And then this might be for Susanna, and then looking at what the after effect is to see, you know, if there's a correlation between a reduction or not.

That's okay, thank you.

So um as I mentioned before, Councilmember Lyons and Mayor and other council members.

Um we are currently always looking at our our crash rates, and and and that's a huge collaboration between our traffic group and our PD group.

So that information is being tracked right now for all intersections.

It's not just um the ones that we've we've highlighted here, but there is some information that's already being tracked, and certainly those four intersections that already have some camera systems that can pick it up.

We're already doing that, and we will continue to do that with probably a little more sensitivity and regularity on or more frequency, I guess would be the right word there, of looking at these intersections that we've sat down on that pilot program.

So I'd like to see that data when we're done with the pilot.

Uh just kind of look at what the correlation looks like.

Thank you.

We'll we'll get you what we can get you.

So okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes, I just had one more.

I have one more comment come to mind, and that was in regards to locations.

Currently, you have identified the approaches to 10 major intersections, but another thought that um could be viable is on the exit of town facilities like the library, the rec center, parks.

Um I think it would people would be more captivated, probably in a safer condition because they're stopped, you know, waiting to get out of that facility.

Some input.

Thank you.

Yes, very good.

Any other thoughts?

No.

Thank you very much.

That concludes our presentation in the study session.

Do I have a motion to adjourn study session?

I'll make the motion towards one.

It's been moved.

Uh that we adjourn the study session.

We are adjourned and we'll reconvene at uh six o'clock for our student citizens awards.