Oakland’s inequitable and ineffective free holiday parking persists
Parking can be a sensitive issue in most cities, and Oakland is no different... Read More
Will Bay Area Bike Share underperform expectations in the East Bay?
After several years of anticipation, the expansion of Bay Area Bike Share (recently rebranded as Ford GoBike) from 700 to 7,000 bikes will finally commence Spring 2017... Read More
Two potential “peanutabout” locations in Oakland
Oakland has several skewed intersections that could be candidates for peanutabout designs. In particular, two intersections exhibit potential for such a design... Read More
Oakland moves parking kiosk into brand new bike lane
Recently, the City made a perplexing change to the design that relocated the parking attendant kiosk into the middle of the bike lane... Read More
The complicated story behind widening Highway 1 in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County is in the midst of a debate over how to relieve gridlock along Highway 1. Traffic congestion has continued to worsen in recent years along the... Read More
“Bay Bridge Forward” to add much-needed capacity to Transbay commute
Facing crush-load BART trains, packed buses and ferries, and congested freeways, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission recently approved $40 million in near-term capacity relief. The “Bay Bridge Forward” program seeks... Read More
Photos from the 2016 Summer Intro to Careers in Law Program
This summer marked the fourth year our firm has hosted local high school students for a one week program offering an introduction to careers in law. Once again, a... Read More
Uptown’s transformation continues with $6.3 million TIGER grant for 19th street BART station
Transportation funding keeps flowing into Oakland – last week, the Go Uptown project received $6.3 million via an extremely competitive federal TIGER grant. A joint effort between BART and... Read More
Untangling 27th Street in Oakland
As Oakland remakes key Downtown corridors such as Telegraph, Harrison, and 20th, big changes are also in store for 27th Street. Oakland recently submitted a grant application to the... Read More
Why is BART in the long-term airport parking business?
As BART’s ridership has surged over the past five years, the system has developed a shortage of station parking. On a typical weekday, many of BART’s lots fill up... Read More
7 years after cuts, restoration of off-peak BART service remains distant
Seven years ago in the midst of the Great Recession, BART significantly cut evening and Sunday service in an effort to balance its budget. Prior to cutting service, BART... Read More
Should self-driving vehicles be required to get a license?
Following the first fatal accident involving a self-driving vehicle, the debate has been renewed over whether autonomous cars are ready to share the road with traditional vehicles. The accident,... Read More
Even Oakland parking enforcement officers are parking in Telegraph’s protected bike lanes
Oakland’s parking enforcement officers have been criticized recently for their lack of enforcement of illegal and unsafe parking behavior along Telegraph’s new protected bike lanes. Yesterday, parking enforcement was... Read More
How to fix Telegraph Avenue’s protected bike lanes
A month after unveiling a road diet on Telegraph Avenue featuring Oakland’s first protected bike lanes, Telegraph remains a mess. Obstructions of the bike lanes are seemingly never-ending as... Read More
Should self-driving cars still have steering wheels and brake pedals?
Earlier this week, GM CEO Mary Barra said she believes self-driving vehicles should continue to include steering wheels, brake pedals and accelerators as the technology develops. The state of... Read More
Oakland forgets to reinstall parking meters on busy stretch of Grand Avenue
Oakland’s Department of Transportation is finally taking shape, and it can’t come soon enough. In the latest example of poor attention to detail in street design, the City has... Read More
After a momentous Bike to Work Day, more complete streets projects on the way
Last week’s Bike to Work day was one of the most significant in the event’s 22 year history in the East Bay. Four ribbon cuttings occurred in the cities... Read More
West Contra Costa County evaluates high capacity transit options
Without a doubt the greatest challenges facing BART are expanding core capacity and maintaining a good state of repair. At the same time, however, the Bay Area’s regional transit... Read More
Rethinking BART to Santa Clara
After nearly two decades of planning, the timeline for completion of the Silicon Valley BART extension remains uncertain. Later this year, BART will open a five mile, $890 million... Read More
Victims of Unnecessary Heart Surgeries
$111.7 million for victims of unnecessary heart surgeries at Redding Medical Center. Read More
Wrongful Death Case for Defective Tires
$10.8 million for a wrongful death against a tire manufacturer and auto supply chain. Read More
BART’s bond measure: aiming too low?
Over the past few weeks, BART and Los Angeles’ Metro have each made big headlines, albeit for very different reasons. In the Bay Area, BART’s ongoing mechanical problems are... Read More
Seven findings from BART’s station profile survey
About every seven years, BART commissions a survey of its stations to learn more about who is riding and where he/she is going. BART’s last survey was done in... Read More
Signs of Road Rage: What You Can Do To Make Roads Safer
What Is Road Rage? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines road rage as “criminal act[s] of violence,” a product of aggressive driving, like tailgating, speeding, and running red... Read More
Alameda’s Central Avenue Project moves forward, but weak links remain
Alameda’s Central Avenue Complete Streets Project passed a key milestone in receiving city council approval to move forward into final design. As we’ve previously covered, safety improvements are badly... Read More
Vision Zero or Zero Vision: when will Berkeley fix its unsafe streets?
On February 2nd, Megan Schwarzman was run over by a car while bicycling along Fulton Street near Bancroft Way. Meghan was hit by Berwick Haynes, who was arrested on... Read More
Where should a second Transbay Tube go?
There is a growing consensus that building a second Transbay Tube is critical to the Bay Area’s future. Transbay ridership has skyrocketed in recent years – MTC’s ongoing Core... Read More
Illegal parking continues to plague Oakland’s buffered bike lanes
Oakland’s new buffered bike lanes continue to experience frequent blockages due to illegal double parking. Robert Prinz of Bike East Bay recently posted a video of Webster Street in... Read More
Oakland’s initial ‘Plan Downtown’ concepts fall short of equity and sustainability goals
The Bay Area is in desperate need of housing, especially affordable housing in walkable and bikeable neighborhoods located near transit. Downtown Oakland presents a tremendous opportunity to achieve measurable... Read More
Oakland pedestrian enforcement operation includes jaywalking tickets, provides fashion tips
The Oakland Police Department issued a press release on Wednesday announcing a pedestrian safety enforcement operation on Monday, February 1st. The press release notes increasing rates of pedestrian collisions... Read More
Downtown Oakland needs accessible & walkable public spaces
What kinds of open spaces does Oakland need? The City recently posed this question via Twitter as a part of its ongoing Downtown Specific Plan efforts. The Downtown Plan... Read More
Tonight: help Bike East Bay improve dangerous roundabout design
Tonight (Thursday January 14th) at 7:00 PM, the Lafayette Circulation Commission will review a dangerous double-wide roundabout proposal at the intersection of Pleasant Hill Road and Olympic Boulevard, two... Read More
Increased commuter benefits a boon for Bay Area commuters
Transit riders across the country received a big boost in commuter benefits thanks to Congress’ new spending bill. The bill increased pre-tax transit benefits to $255 per month, matching... Read More
Oakland awarded $4.7 million for traffic calming improvements
Oakland continues to have tremendous success in winning grant money for complete streets projects. Following nine million in grant awards from the Active Transportation Program (ATP) for redesigns of... Read More
How can Oakland fix Grand Avenue?
Grand Avenue is broken. Like countless other streets in Oakland, the design of Grand Avenue no longer serves the people and communities that use the street. However, while Oakland... Read More
San Francisco’s proposed bike-yield law continues to roll forward
Several weeks ago we wrote about a proposed bill that would make San Francisco the largest U.S. city to adopt a stop-as-yield law for cyclists. Earlier this week San... Read More
Support TransForm on ‘Giving Tuesday’
Today is “Giving Tuesday.” It might not generate the same amount of fanfare as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but for the past three years, Giving Tuesday has... Read More
Tragedy strikes horrific Page Mill-280 Interchange near Palo Alto
On Tuesday morning, Jeffrey Donnelly of Palo Alto was tragically killed while riding a bicycle on Page Mill Road near I-280. Riding along a popular recreational cycling route, Donnelly... Read More
Rebuilding a highway for imaginary traffic: Oakland’s Lakeside “Green Streets” project
Should Downtown Oakland be a great place to drive, or a great place to walk and bike? As Downtown lies on the cusp of rebirth and growth, these divergent... Read More
New pedestrian safety banners target San Francisco’s most dangerous streets
As of yesterday, pedestrian safety banners are now flying in SoMa. The banners, proclaiming “Slow Down!” and followed with either “We live here” or “I live here” are part... Read More
BART closures highlight need for BART-Transbay Terminal connection
BART’s recent weekend closures of the Transbay Tube were happily uneventful: thanks to advanced warning and frequent replacement “bus bridge” service, the closure did not appear to significantly increase... Read More
Study shows making streets safer is the best way to encourage cycling
A recent study conducted by the University of Bath, Department of Psychology, has concluded that, improving street safety for cyclists is more effective than information campaigns when it comes... Read More
The I-80 Smart Corridor’s dumb approach to San Pablo Avenue
If you’ve recently traveled along I-80 in the East Bay, you may have noticed new electronic signage and metering lights. Caltrans is currently putting the finishing touches on the... Read More
Photos from the 2015 Summer Intro to Careers in Law Program
For the past three summers GJEL has hosted high school students for a week long “Introduction to Careers in Law.” Over the course of the week students are exposed... Read More
Engineers behaving badly: Oakland’s pedestrian signal fail
Oakland has a lot of strange, poorly-designed pedestrian signals, but we think we’ve found the worst example in the City at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Euclid Avenue.... Read More
Survey: most Temescal shoppers don’t drive
The City of Oakland, in partnership with UC Berkeley, recently conducted a survey of shoppers in Temescal along a controversial segment of Telegraph Avenue to better understand the travel... Read More
What is a protected intersection?
As protected bike lanes become more common across the U.S., the way in which we design intersections is also evolving. American cities are on the cusp of implementing the... Read More
Bay Bridge contraflow bus lane and bike/ped path should be considered together
Over the past few months, a proposal to build a contraflow bus lane on the Bay Bridge has gained momentum among key transportation agencies such as the Metropolitan Transportation... Read More
The worst bike lane in the world?
Streetsblog California recently proclaimed a new bike lane in Orinda “The Worst Bike Lane in the World.” The bike lane sits outside of our office on Camino Pablo, straddling... Read More
CHP tickets 168 Alameda drivers in less than 4 hours for not yielding to pedestrians
Stanley Roberts’ People Behaving Badly recently highlighted CHP efforts to ticket Alameda drivers on Webster Street who failed to yield to pedestrians at marked crosswalks. In just 3.5 hours,... Read More
Oakland’s new pedestrian signal policy: a half-step forward
The City of Oakland recently unveiled a new pedestrian signal policy intended to streamline the implementation of more pedestrian-friendly intersections. We’ve written at length about how Oakland’s implementation of... Read More
Motorcyclist killed in collision with farm tractor
$6.225 million for family of motorcyclist killed in collision with farm tractor Read More
New technologies designed to improve bike safety
As long as bikes and cars share the same roads there’s inevitably going to be conflict. As much as we’d love to see protected bike lanes become more ubiquitous,... Read More
Oakland proposes parking-protected bike lanes on 20th street
Big news from Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee last night: Walk Oakland Bike Oakland tweeted that the City is planning to install parking-protected bicycle lanes (cycle tracks) on... Read More
Mandatory helmet law gutted. Now what?
Good news out of Sacramento: S.B. 192, Senator Liu’s disastrous law mandating helmets and reflective gear for bicyclists, was gutted thanks to strong backlash from bicycle advocates across the... Read More
GJEL Legal Dictionary
Below you will find the GJEL Personal Injury Legal Dictionary sorted in alphabetical order. These are common terms you might see used in a personal injury case. [lwptoc title=”List... Read More
Stanislaus County plans to expand freeways in the name of safety and air quality
For decades, California regions built freeways to enable the growth of new suburbs farther and farther afield. In response to the negative environmental effects of suburban sprawl, California enacted... Read More
Uptown Oakland bike station opens: when will infrastructure catch up?
At long last, the Uptown Bike Station opened this week adjacent to BART’s 19th Street Station. The Bike Station offers free, secure bike parking between the hours of 7... Read More
Illegally parked cars clogging new Oakland bike lanes
A striking video was posted to the Bike East Bay Facebook page on Tuesday depicting illegally parked cars clogging Oakland’s new buffered bike lane along Broadway. The video, submitted... Read More
The perils of driving in Los Angeles rain
Los Angeles is famous for freaking out when it rains. Recently, Noah Deneau, an electrical engineer from Austin, Texas, graphically illustrated the effect of rain on the rate of... Read More
Christmas and New Year’s among most dangerous days to drive
It should come as no surprise that the holidays are one of the most dangerous times to head out on the road. Not only are more people driving–some estimates suggest... Read More
Bakersfield plans to bulldoze a neighborhood and build a freeway
During the height of California’s highway boom from the 1950s through the 1970s, Caltrans bulldozed through hundreds of neighborhoods to construct freeways. The economic and environmental toll on these... Read More
Signal timing: a critical element of safe, livable streets
For the vast majority of people, signal timing is not an exciting subject. Apart from traffic engineers and a select group of superwonks, few people pay attention to or... Read More
12-foot lanes don’t improve safety. So why do we keep building them?
Lane widths might seem like a boring, esoteric aspect of traffic engineering, but they really matter for creating safe, livable streets. Noted city planner and urban designer Jeff Speck... Read More
Oaklavia highlights need for better bicycle infrastructure around Lake Merritt
Oakland recently hosted Oaklavia, an open streets event that invites people to walk, bike, dance, play, and socialize in the streets. It’s a terrific, if underappreciated event... Read More
Governor Brown vetoes SB 1151, a bipartisan school zone safety bill
Last Friday, Governor Brown vetoed SB 1151, a bill that would have increased traffic fines in school zones and used these funds for active transportation investments. The bill had... Read More
‘Three Feet for Safety Act’ now in effect
By now you’ve probably already heard that the Three Feet for Safety Act went into effect on Tuesday. The bill, which was finally signed by Governor Brown last year,... Read More
Buy a bike, get a helmet: now through August 31st at select local bike shops
Starting Monday, August 18th, we’re partnering with five local bike shops to promote safety and provide free helmets with every kid’s bike sold. Bike safety is a cause that’s... Read More
Pedestrians dying at disproportionate rates in America’s poorer neighborhoods
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: street safety is about equity. Streets designed for speeding cars are inherently designed dangerously, leaving people who do not drive... Read More
What is the cost of traffic crashes?
In discussions of traffic safety, it’s all too common to desensitize ourselves from the striking numbers of roadway crashes that occur: 32,999 fatalities, 3.9 million non-fatal injuries, and 24... Read More
Cycle Tracks still need traffic calming: a case study of Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View
Proposals for Cycle Tracks are emerging throughout the Bay Area, and that is generally good news for bicycle safety. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the... Read More
East Bay Greenway construction delayed
Construction on the much-anticipated first segment of the East Bay Greenway has stalled due to delays from unexpected levels of soil contamination. The 0.5 mile, $3.56 million project was... Read More
Could Strava be good tool for planning and policymaking?
A key challenge in planning, funding, and implementing bicycle and pedestrian projects is the lack of good data to guide policymaking. As Janie Nham notes on the NRDC Switchboard,... Read More
Los Angeles hires Seleta Reynolds: what it means for walking and biking in SoCal
LADOT GM nominee Seleta Reynolds (right) with former New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan (left) In case there was any doubt, Los Angeles has officially joined the livable... Read More
Five major bike gaps in the Bay Area
As Bay Area cities redesign their streets to better accommodate safe bicycling, key gaps in the region’s infrastructure become ever more apparent. Much of the growth in bicycling over... Read More
Why are fire departments opposing safer street designs?
As San Francisco develops safer street designs to better accommodate people walking and biking, an unlikely opposition group has emerged: the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD). SFFD has vocally... Read More
When sharrows aren’t enough
San Francisco ambitiously seeks to expand bicycling to 20 percent of all trips by 2020. Yet, real concerns over safety remain the single greatest obstacle to expanding bicycling in... Read More
‘Every Bicyclist Counts’ underscores need for increased commitment to bike safety
In discussions of street safety there is a tendency to view traffic fatalities as isolated incidents or just another statistic. It’s important to reinforce the human element of these... Read More
Are bike helmet laws sexist? Aussie woman says yes.
There’s long been a heated debate surrounding mandatory helmet laws, but up until now sexism hadn’t really been one of the talking points. However, a recent complaint from an... Read More
‘Dangerous by Design’ report reiterates link between speeding and pedestrian deaths
As we’ve examined previously both here and here, the Dangerous by Design 2014 report contains a wealth of valuable information on the pedestrian safety crisis in the United States.... Read More
How dangerous is your street?
Last week we looked at the Dangerous by Design report. One of the useful features is the map tool, which overlays the locations of every pedestrian fatality in the... Read More
The hypocrisy of San Francisco’s selective traffic law enforcement
Street safety depends on the fair enforcement of traffic laws, but enforcement is not always fair. The juxtaposition of two stories over the past week illustrates the incongruent enforcement... Read More
Is Berkeley falling behind in the race for safe streets?
The City of Berkeley is a well-known leader in environmentalism, social justice, and public health. Given that active transportation plays an integral role in each of these fields, it’s... Read More
Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue Complete Streets Plan: Building a Safer Street
Telegraph Avenue is one of Oakland’s key transportation corridors, linking Downtown Oakland with Downtown Berkeley. It serves thousands of transit riders, drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians every day, and also... Read More
Are bike accidents treated differently than car accidents?
Bicycle accidents and auto accidents, technically, are treated identically under California law. The rules of determining who is at fault are the same. Practically Are They Treated Different? As... Read More
What is a Cycle Track?
Recently we discussed the ongoing battle between California cities and Caltrans over street design, most notably cycle tracks. As it turns out, Caltrans just announced its official endorsement of... Read More
Is traffic violence sufficiently prosecuted?
A year ago, 17 year old Hanren Chang was hit and killed by a drunk driver while crossing Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco. Hanren, a student at Lowell High... Read More
#ReplaceBikeWithCar Satirizes Anti-Bike Rhetoric
The rise of bicycling and the expansion of bike lanes can at times provoke strong negative reactions in people, whether it’s at public meetings, newspaper comment boards, or casual... Read More
Cities battle Caltrans over street design
As cities across California seek to build safer, healthier, greener “complete streets,” many have come into conflict with Caltrans over what constitutes an acceptable (and legally defensible) design. This... Read More
Pedestrian accident settlement against AC Transit
$20.452 Million dollars received for a young woman hit by an AC Transit Bus. The largest recovery by an individual against a bus company in California History. Read More
$7.5 Million Dollars Recovered For a Big-rig collision in The Central Valley
$7.5 million recovered in trial for a family involved in a big-rig accident in the Central Valley. Read More
Is driving with Google Glass a ticketable offense?
As technology continues to become even more integrated into our everyday lives, existing laws can become fuzzy when it comes to how emerging technologies should be treated. Case in... Read More
Georgia lawmakers backpedal on bill requiring cyclists to register bikes and obtain license
A recent piece of legislation proposed by Georgia Representative Carl Rogers requiring cyclists to register their bike with the state (and obtain a license) managed to inspire enough vitriol... Read More
Texting While Driving: It’s Worse Than You Think
We all intuitively understand that texting while driving is dangerous – but a look at the statistics shows just how frighteningly dangerous (and pervasive) texting while driving is. According... Read More
Required viewing for drivers everywhere: ‘From One Second to the Next’
Famed director Werner Herzog’s powerful new documentary about texting and driving has already reached more than 1.5 million views on YouTube and is bringing even more attention to the... Read More
Inaugural summer internship program proves successful
16 students from 13 different high schools came together to participate in our summer internship designed to expose young adults to a potential career in law. The internship was... Read More
Law schools grow increasingly desperate as applications continue to decline
With the overall number of applicants to accredited law schools down 34 percent from their peak in 2010, schools are doing whatever they can to keep attendance up and... Read More
‘Foldable Helmet’ aims to make bike safety more portable than ever
One of the most common objections to wearing a bike helmet is that it’s simply not portable. Once you’ve arrived at your destination and chained your bike to the... Read More
Quick video tips for urban cycling
The team at Grist has put together a nice little video of “biking basics for folks who’ve always wanted to ride, but didn’t dare.” Although a lot of the... Read More
S.F. challenged to reduce bike fatalities, ramp up safety efforts
A report released earlier this week is urging San Francisco’s mayor and Board of Supervisors to increase efforts to reduce bike fatalities, calling for an ultimate goal of “zero... Read More