Why Road Safety Belongs on the Sheriff’s Agenda
After years of scandal, from the Board of Supervisors removing the previous sheriff to the “Batmobile raid” fiasco, San Mateo County has a chance to reset. Choosing a new sheriff isn’t just about restoring credibility. It’s a chance to redefine what public safety means and to make road safety part of that vision.
On Friday, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors selected three finalists for San Mateo County Sheriff. The Board’s questions focused on "their approaches to modern policing, experience in managing jails, and oversight of large budgets." All the candidates have impressive resumes and seem like good options to bring the office back from the past less-than-ideal tenures. Yet amid talk of budgets, jails, and leadership style, one life-and-death issue has been missing from the conversation: road safety.
What the data says
If you compare the SMC Coroner Annual Reports data on Homicides vs. Motor Vehicle Fatalities you can see that San Mateo County averaged about 35 motor vehicle deaths each year, nearly three times the number of homicides. Behind these numbers are neighbors killed while walking, biking, or driving on roads across the county.
Additionally, using the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) we can expand the dataset to include all of San Mateo County (including both unincorporated areas and incorporated cities). This dataset combines fatalities plus serious injuries unlike the coroner data and the trends are equally troubling.
Despite years of commitments to safer streets from multiple cities throughout the county, serious crashes have been rising over recent years, not declining. Countywide leadership can help unify the approach and map a path to safer streets.
What can be done?
The Sheriff’s Office can make a measurable difference in how safe our roads are. The office already investigates fatal crashes, manages unincorporated-area enforcement, and influences countywide public-safety priorities.
The next sheriff should:
- Advocate for expanding California’s automated speed enforcement program to counties beyond the current six-city pilot.
- Collect and publish local speeding and crash data to build the case for action (similar to Oakland’s Speed Safety Program or the state’s SHSP dashboard).
- Partner with cities and Caltrans to target high-risk corridors for design changes or future camera deployment.
- Reduce inequitable traffic stops and refocus deputies on behaviors that cause real harm: speeding, DUI, and reckless driving.
- Lead a culture shift in law enforcement that recognizes road violence as preventable, not inevitable.
Leadership on traffic safety doesn’t require new laws; it requires new priorities. As their own mission statement declares:
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is dedicated to protecting lives
If that mission truly means protecting lives, it should extend to the most common form of preventable death in our county: traffic crashes. The next sheriff can treat crashes as inevitable "accidents" or as preventable acts of violence. San Mateo County deserves leadership that recognizes traffic safety as public safety.
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