Transportation Committee Meeting

May 11, 2006

Kendall 207

Present: Leslie Deniz, (University Police), Joel Trenolone, Tatiana Ahlstrand (Facilities Planning), Dick Chamberlain (Financial Services), Stephanie Yule (Risk Management), Brian Oppy (Faculty Senate); Rick Rees (Student Activities); Beverlee Perry (University Parking); Allison Travis-Bee (AS Information Center); Courney Voss (AS Environmental Affairs and AS President Elect).

CSU Seatbelt Requirement – Stephanie Yule requested the committee review some issues that have come up regarding seatbelt usage by campus employees. She said it had come to her attention that many of the students driving electric vehicles on campus, and specifically those driven by DSS students, although equipped with seatbelts, were not wearing them. She reminded the committee of the CSU policy which requires seatbelts be worn at all times while in any vehicle that is equipped with seatbelts. The committee discussed the issue. One member asked if these vehicles were driven on the streets. The answer is yes, some of them are licensed to drive on 35 mph streets, and due to many of our buildings being off campus, they often are. Another question was raised as to whether or not there is any published information about how safe (or not) these vehicles are, especially when running at 5 mph. Nobody knew of any specific information regarding safety records of electric vehicles.

It was suggested that stickers be obtained that say “Fasten your seatbelts” which can be applied to all vehicles. It was also recommended that a campus-wide announcement be made reminding everyone, including student drivers, of the policy to wear seatbelts at any time they are driving or riding in state vehicles. It was also recommended that all personnel who supervise others who drive these vehicles make their employees aware and accountable for fastening their seatbelts. It was even suggested that student drivers be given the policy to read, and then sign a document saying they would adhere to the policy at all times.

Enterprise Rideshare – Representatives from Enterprise Rideshare were supposed to be at this meeting to update the committee regarding their program. Although they did not show up, Leslie Deniz reported as follows: A list was forwarded to Enterprise Rideshare by HR which included streets only (no names, no house numbers) of employees who live outside of Chico. Enterprise crunched the data and determined there were enough groups of people living in the same areas that could benefit from their program. The plan is to fashion an invitation to all faculty and staff, explaining the program, and inviting them to an informational meeting which will take place some time in August. Leslie Deniz stated she would be assisting Enterprise Rideshare with this.

New/Other Business - Dick Chamberlain said he saw in the announcements that DSS was conducting a survey on Handicap Parking and asked if anyone new about this. Stephanie Yule said that because of a lawsuit the university is conducting research on how ADD compliant the university is and especially with parking. She said a committee has been looking at all ADD rules, and conducting a self-assessment. Rob Thacker from FMS has been especially looking at the parking lots and has presented to the committee his findings. It was determined that the university does have more Accessible parking spaces than required (what used to be called “Handicap” parking spaces are now referred to as “Accessible” parking spaces). They also tried to determined how much usage these spaces got; Beverlee Perry, Parking Officer, tracked some of these spaces on her rounds over several days, however, she and the committee determined this was not scientific enough to come up with any sound conclusions. Therefore, they decided to do a survey via campus announcements. Anyone who wants to can respond to the survey.

Courtney Voss stated she would like to see some type of program that makes all students aware of safety issues on campus, which includes issues related to driving (as a student employee) as well as being aware of vehicles on campus. Some students wearing headphones often aren’t aware of what is going on around them and they need to be reminded to watch out for vehicles/bikes, etc. on campus.

Beverlee Perry reported that Parking Division has started to deny passes to vendors who want to drive in the inner core of campus. They have been making an effort to reduce the number of vehicles driving in the inner core and this has helped tremendously.

Tatiana Ahlstrand, Intern with Facilities Planning, announced this was her last meeting. She is graduating and moving out of the area. She thanked the committee for their support and hard work.

Meeting adjourned at 9:40 am.