Reacting to a freak accident that killed a woman two years ago, the San Jose City Council is poised to give dog owners a shorter leash to control their pets on park trails.

The council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider — and expected to approve — an ordinance that would require owners to keep their dogs on leashes no longer than 6 feet, 14 feet shorter than is now allowed.

First-time violators would get a warning, second-time violators may be issued a $100 citation, and a third violation in three years could be a $200 fine.

The proposed ordinance comes after a series of community meetings held by Councilwoman Nancy Pyle. Pyle organized the meetings following a fatal accident that occurred on Sept. 16, 2009.

Beverly Head was taking a morning walk when her legs became entangled in a dog leash as a mountain biker riding alongside his two Siberian Huskies passed her on the Los Alamitos Creek Trail. The retired 62-year-old phlebotomist fell, bumped her head and was conscious after the accident. But at the hospital, her brain swelled and she died the next day.

The bicyclist, who stayed afterward to help, was never charged with a crime despite desperate pleas from her 67-year-old widower, Bob Head.

The law enforcement agencies essentially told Head that after a review of the police and coroner’s reports, they determined that a crime had not been committed. There is no law forbidding bicyclists to ride on public paths while exercising their dogs on leashes.

Bob Head said he doesn’t think the proposed new law goes far enough.

Instead, he wants city and park leaders to forbid bicyclists from riding alongside dogs on leashes.

But Yves Zsutty, a trail manager with the city’s Park, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, said there would be no realistic way to patrol the trails and enforce such stringent restrictions.

“Basically, we tried to find a balance,” he said.

What this proposed ordinance would do is amend the current leash law, which has allowed dogs to be walked on 20-foot leashes in open spaces and on city trails. This new proposal shortens the leash to 6 feet on city trails, putting it into the same category as a city sidewalk.

Also new in the proposed ordinance is a rule that tells dogs and their owners to walk, jog or bicycle to the right of the trail.

Jon Cicirelli, deputy director of San Jose’s Animal Care and Services, said dog owners can still have up to 20-foot leashes in open, grassy spaces in a park, as long as the dog isn’t bothering anyone.

This shorter leash amendment follows on the heels of several actions the city took last summer, many of which were in the works before Beverly Head’s death.

Also, as a result of the new ordinance, new signs will be posted to remind trail users of the new law. Those signs will include the new 6-foot-leash rule as well as documented state law that limits cyclists to wearing one headphone rather than two, and reiterates Santa Clara County’s 15 mph speed limit on trails.

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.