Residents beg for road funding as Sacramento leaders weigh declaration over deadly crashes

Eleven residents stayed in the audience until the final minutes of a four-and-a-half hour Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday night to beg leaders to ensure that a possible state of emergency over dangerous roads would come with funding for infrastructure improvements.

“I am really thrilled that this is happening,” said Deb Banks, executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. “But without funding, it’s just fake promises.”

Vice Mayor Caity Maple submitted the paperwork Tuesday to begin the process of proposing a state of emergency on pedestrian and cyclist safety on city streets; next, it will be heard at a committee meeting. On Sunday, the latest victim of what Maple called a crisis — Azure Daniels, 48 — died of her injuries in the hospital. She was fatally struck Thursday night while crossing Sutterville Road. The city has previously identified “reducing driver speeds” on Sutterville as a community priority, but has not yet done so.

In 2017, Sacramento officials made a “Vision Zero” promise to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries on city streets by 2027, but the death toll remains high. In 2024, The Sacramento Bee has covered the deaths of 21 people on city streets, including 14 pedestrians and cyclists and two young women on scooters.

The speakers who lined up for their turn during public comment Tuesday night said they supported a state of emergency but that the draft resolution included strategies — police enforcement and public education — which would not address the root of the problem: dangerous road design.

Maple’s initial draft, submitted with the support of Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Councilwoman Karina Talamantes, includes language directing the Sacramento Police Department to step up enforcement on driver behavior that endangers pedestrians. Kiara Reed, executive director of the transportation advocacy organization Civic Thread, told council members Tuesday that such a strategy would be ineffective.

Commenters say police and public education are band-aids

Isaac Gonzalez, vice chair of the city’s Active Transportation Commission and founder of Slow Down Sacramento, pointed out that infrastructure can physically force drivers to slow 24/7, whereas police may influence drivers to slow down only when they are present and drivers notice them. When collisions happen at slower speeds, they are much less likely to result in death or debilitating injury.

“Research overwhelmingly points to roadway design as the most effective measure to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from traffic collisions. This should be the priority: Roadway design,” Reed said. “I urge you to reject an increase in policing.”

In a news conference with reporters on Monday, city staff provided reporters with data on more than 200 deadly pedestrian crashes over the past 12 years. The data showed that about two out of three fatal pedestrian collisions were considered the pedestrian’s fault in the eyes of police — not the driver’s fault.

“I urge you,” Reed said, “to dedicate general funds to the public works department.”

Currently, the city budget includes few outlays for the Department of Public Works to pursue safety projects. Street improvement projects are typically funded by competitive grants — meaning staff must apply for and win money.

In June, the city council declined to include $10 million in the budget to fund the Active Transportation Commission’s 10 recommendations, most of which were directly related to improving the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

Another speaker, cyclist Sherry Martinez, said that after her serious crash, the criminal justice response was painfully slow. Martinez was severely injured when a driver ran her over in midtown last summer, but it took the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office almost a year to file criminal charges. Prosecutors filed charges after Martinez spoke at public meetings and to CBS13 in May.

“My faith in the justice system has been tested,” she told the council. She added that bike trails also needed more funding.

Dan Allison, a former Safe Routes to School coordinator and a transit advocate, also criticized the public education component of the draft resolution, which called for funding an awareness campaign.

“Drivers know they’re violating the law, and they’re encouraged to violate the law by our roadway design,” Allison said. “What we really need to fix is not drivers’ attitudes. We need to fix our roadways.”

Gonzalez and others asked the city to prioritize quick-build strategies, which include targeted, low-cost rapid interventions to address safety problems. The draft resolution calls for quick-build solutions, echoing prior calls from councilwoman Katie Valenzuela.

The stakes are high, Gonzalez said. He referenced more than 100 people who have been killed in traffic collisions in Sacramento County this year. On city streets, The Bee has reported that Mattie Nicholson, 56; Kate Johnston, 55; Jeffrey Blain, 59; Aaron Ward, 40; Sam Dent, 41; Terry Lane, 55; David Rink, 51; Tyler Vandehei, 32; James Lind, 54; Jose Valladolid Ramirez, 36; Larry Winters, 76; Sau Voong, 84; José Luis Silva, 55; and Muhammad Saddique, 64; and Daniels, 48, were killed by drivers while walking or biking. Geohaira “Geo” Sosa, 32, and Kaylee Xiong, 18, were fatally struck while riding electric scooters.