Bennett Valley Road 'Racetrack'—Some Proposed Solutions

By Steven Baker and Adrian Baker-Kang

“Bennett Valley Road is a racetrack!” comments Lt. David Hoff of the California Highway Patrol. The CHP is the agency responsible for responding to traffic issues on BVR. Better enforcement could go a long way to calming the speeders out here, but the agency is understaffed, with only 46 officers to cover the entire county over three shifts on a given day.

CHP incident logs for the last few years reveal some disturbing facts: that since 2018 there have been 223 reported traffic accidents on BVR, spanning from Warm Springs Road to the BV Golf Course. And these are only the reported incidents, the true statistic is quite possibly double /triple this number. Among those are 106 injuries, and 4 fatalities. The ‘S’ turns seem to be particularly dangerous, as is the intersection at Grange Rd., and of course the narrows near Bennett Ridge and Enterprise Road.

What to do? Residents are not advocating for a stop light. But, some sort of calming is called for. With the development of 400 - 1000 new dwelling units anticipated for the Sonoma Developmental Center in Glen Ellen, BV Road is in for even more trouble, as workers and new residents zoom through between Glen Ellen and southwest Santa Rosa.

Some ideas:

-Increased enforcement:

Pros: Ticket revenue for the county

Proven to urge drives to slow down

           Cons: Takes officers away from other areas

                          Requires regular, long-term presence

-Infrastructure:  Dividers and more rumble strips

           Pros: Dividers prevent unsafe/illegal passing

                          Does not require regular human involvement

                          Physical speed deterrent

           Cons: Cost, long timeline to implement

                          Could detract from rural character

                          Increased road rage?

-Driver Awareness

           Pros: Signage with clear call to action: Slow Down

                          Little to no maintenance

           Cons: Could detract from rural character

                          Need effective Call to Action

Recommendation:

1)  Prioritize Awareness and easy infrastructure

2)  In the mid-term: Implement longer term infrastructure improvements

3)  If necessary, reincorporate CHP and law enforcement patrols as resources become available

Disregard for safety is a two-way street—reckless driving behavior affects not only the drivers, but also our BV residents who are confronted with these calamities all too frequently.