Until a new traffic calming program in Seaside is approved, residents’ concerns must wait.

Seaside resident Edith Hernandez, who lives on Hilby Avenue between Noche Buena Street and Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard, became so alarmed by speeding and collisions that this spring, she began walking door to door to gather enough signatures so that the city could process a traffic calming request.

In the approximately 14 years since living in her house, she says she and her family have had six vehicles damaged, either while backing out of the driveway, or parked in the driveway or on the street. The last straw, she says, was when, just after 8pm on an evening in March, a vehicle traveling down Hilby hit a car parked on the street with enough force to push it into her car, parked in the driveway. Cameras at her house picked up the hit-and-run incident.

“I would just like our community to feel safe walking and doing any outdoor activity without feeling like a vehicle is going to lose control and plow into them,” she says.

Hernandez submitted her request, which was addressed by Seaside’s Traffic Advisory Committee June 21. But change will take time: Traffic calming requests are currently on hold until the City Council approves a revised traffic calming program – meant to expedite requests – which is expected to be completed sometime this summer. That means any project on Hilby is months from even being considered.

Seaside Acting Police Chief Nick Borges says the problem is not just on Hilby – La Salle Avenue has the highest collision rate on residential streets. He’s trying to add more traffic enforcement officers; there’s currently just one in a hybrid traffic/patrol role.

Borges would like to see more roundabouts in the city, but understands they come at a high cost.