A group of stakeholders including CUSD district officials, parents, students, Lawson administration, City Staff, a Cupertino BPC commissioner, and other stakeholders started a team four years ago to develop a plan to improve safety for cyclists and walking students at Lawson Middle School. Currently, students who bike to Lawson must bike in the same lane as heavy traffic (see picture) and must cross dropoff traffic to reach the campus. Many instead choose to bike on the sidewalk with walking students, which is problematic.

The team developed a plan to improve safety, with Apple covering the cost of the improvements through the "Walk Audit" program. The solution that these stakeholders agreed was best was the same as used successfully at Greene Middle School in Palo Alto: a separated bike lane that would run along the side of the school, allowing students to get onto campus easily and safely from all directions, and allowing walking students only to use the sidewalk. It would require losing some parallel parking south of the dropoff lane on the east side of the campus only.

This plan was not approved by the current City Council but instead they funded a $50K study after complaints from three residents about the loss of the parking spaces. This meeting is the first step in that study process.

Americans are more than twice as likely to die in a crash as Canadians, our close neighbor to the north. When we contrast the US with Japan, it’s even more startling. Though Japan had a very high death rate in the 1960’s, since then they have made significant changes which have made their roadway deaths less than 3 per 100,000 people, compared to the US which has over 12 per 100,000 people. Read more..