We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and neighbors of Santa Clara University, call on Santa Clara University, the City of Santa Clara, and Caltrans to take immediate, coordinated action to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection of El Camino Real (CA-82) and Campbell Avenue/Accolti Way.

This intersection is one of the main gateways between campus and the surrounding community. Students, employees, and residents cross it every day, yet its current design places too much emphasis on moving vehicles quickly and too little on protecting the people walking through it.

The urgency of this issue was made painfully clear on May 19, 2026, when an SCU student was struck by a vehicle at this intersection and taken to the hospital. While the details of that collision are still being investigated, the incident reflects the danger many members of the SCU community already experience when crossing this wide, high-speed roadway.

The risks are not hard to identify: drivers making turns while pedestrians are in the crosswalk, long crossing distances, heavy traffic volume, and a state highway running directly alongside a major university entrance. Basic infrastructure such as ladder crosswalks and a median is not enough if people still feel unsafe and collisions continue to occur. Students should not have to risk injury simply to get to class, return home, or access campus resources.

Santa Clara University has the visibility and institutional influence to help bring the right agencies to the table. The university should publicly partner with the City of Santa Clara and Caltrans to pursue immediate, evidence-based safety improvements at this intersection.

We specifically call for:

1) An immediate engineering and pedestrian safety study focused on turning conflicts, signal timing, crossing distance, vehicle speed, and driver visibility at El Camino Real and Campbell Avenue/Accolti Way.
2) The installation of active pedestrian warning measures, including illuminated blank-out or dynamic LED signs stating “Turning Vehicles Yield to Pedestrians” during pedestrian crossing phases, especially for turning traffic movements that create the highest conflict risk.
3) A public timeline for evaluating and implementing additional proven safety improvements, including turn restrictions, leading pedestrian intervals, protected turn phases, upgraded signal timing (including an added visible timer), and other traffic-calming or crossing enhancements identified by the study.