Road deaths rival the number of homicides as Sacramento considers state of emergency
The number of traffic deaths on city streets has been close to the number of homicides in Sacramento for a decade, according to a new report for the City Council that will soon consider a proposed emergency declaration on cyclist and pedestrian safety.
The Active Transportation Commission voted unanimously Thursday evening to approve the annual report that will be submitted to a committee and then to the council. In the report, the commission compared traffic fatalities to homicides . They found that, in all but two of the last 10 years, more fatal car crashes occurred within city limits than homicides. Last year, police said, 38 homicides took place in the city. Data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System shows that as many vehicle collisions on city streets left people dead in 2023: 38 crashes killed 44 people. Seventeen of those killed were pedestrians and eight were cyclists.
Four of the dead last year, including one pedestrian, were killed on a milelong stretch of Del Paso Boulevard as it turns into Marysville Boulevard in North Sacramento's Hagginwood neighborhood. A pedestrian and a cyclist were each killed within the five blocks south of 16th Avenue on Stockton Boulevard in Colonial Heights.
The Active Transportation Commission report counts 55 fatal collisions on freeways and streets within the city's 100 square miles in 2023.
The report also states that, since city leaders made a "Vision Zero" promise in 2017 to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2027, they have not succeeded in reducing the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Other cities and countries have achieved impressive Vision Zero results with changes to policy and infrastructure. Among them is Sweden, which halved the number of traffic deaths nationwide between 2008 and the end of 2017.
In June, when the City Council passed its 2024-25 budget, it declined to earmark $10.7 million in funding for recommendations made by the commission. Council members previously pointed to the deficit as a hurdle to funding . Between Jan. 1 and the council's June 11 vote to approve the budget without that funding, at least 12 pedestrians and cyclists were killed on city streets.
In its report this year, the commission resubmitted the same top request that went unheeded in June: Dedicate $3 million in the city budget to pay for more infrastructure improvement projects. It is requesting less money overall than it did in its last set of recommendations: $8.1 million.
Despite their reluctance to direct funding toward these goals, members of the city council have said that making safety improvements is a high priority. On Sept. 13, Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Caity Maple announced her intention to pursue a state of emergency declaration on pedestrian and cyclist safety, alongside Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Mayor Pro Tem Karina Talamantes.
Since then, The Bee tallied five more deaths due to crashes on city streets. Azure Daniels, 48, died Sept. 15; Duane Ashby, 35, died Sept. 18 after a crash in June; Martin Chavez, 41, died Sept. 29; Daniel Lee Jennings, 54, died Oct. 7; and Jordan Rodriguez, 38, died in a hit-and-run Oct. 12. Daniels was a pedestrian, and Rodriguez was a cyclist.
At least 21 other people have been killed in vehicle collisions on city streets: Mattie Nicholson , 56; Kate Johnston , 55; Jeffrey Blain, 59; Aaron Ward , 40; Michael Kennedy, 40; Federico Zacarias Cambrano, 28; Marvin Moran , 22; Sam Dent , 41; Daniel Morris, 38; Terry Lane, 55; David Rink, 51; Tyler Vandehei, 32; James Lind, 54; Jose Valladolid Ramirez , 36; Larry Winters, 76; Sau Voong , 84; Edward Lopez, 61; José Luis Silva , 55; Geohaira "Geo" Sosa , 32; Kaylee Xiong , 18; and Muhammad Saddique, 64, who was killed Sept. 9 walking through the same Natomas intersection where Voong was fatally struck on his morning bike ride June 11.
Of the 26 dead, 16 were pedestrians or cyclists, and two were riding electric scooters. The remaining eight were motorists.
What does the Active Transportation Commission want?
The commission winnowed its list of recommendations down to six from 10 last year, reducing its request for funds to $8.1 million from $10.7 million.
The six recommendations in the report, listed in order of priority:
Increase funding for infrastructure projects focused on "active transportation" — which includes any transportation that is human-powered, such as walking or cycling — by $3 million in the first year. Most of the infrastructure improvements are grant-funded, though the city often has to kick in some of its own money as a grant requirement. Currently, the report says, the city only directs $42 million toward these infrastructure projects.
Expand speed management programs with annual funding of $2 million. That funding would go toward, among other things, ramping up the city's speed lump program. The commission also encouraged the city to reestablish the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, which previously worked with residents to develop speed reduction plans for streets. Speed is a primary factor in whether a crash turns deadly, and Sacramento currently allows drivers on many roadways to travel at lethal speeds. The city's Vision Zero plan states that when a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle traveling 20 mph, the risk that the pedestrian will die is 5%, and that by the time the speed increases to 30 mph, the risk that the pedestrian will die is 40% .
Create a quick-build bikeway program with annual funding of $1.5 million. The commissioners referenced the "quick-build" parking-protected bike lane on J Street, which used relatively cheap materials — mostly paint and plastic bollards — to better protect cyclists from moving vehicles. They argued that that kind of project, implemented on a relatively short timeline, could be replicated in other parts of the city.
Re-establish up to five miles of "Slow & Active Streets" that were initially implemented during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to make more public space accessible not in vehicles. The commissioners said in the report that starting the program back up would require $866,000.
Develop a citywide "safe routes to school" program to organize efforts so children can get to school without a car. The commission said the program would need $708,000 in funding.
Finalize the construction detour policy, which would take no additional funding. Sacramento has, for years, failed to finalize its policy on how sidewalk users and cyclists should be accommodated when construction zones encroach on designated pedestrian and bike areas. At the commission's meeting Thursday, city Transportation Planning Manager Jennifer Donlon Wyant, said that it was "unclear at this moment" when it will be completed. The delays have led to inconsistent and often nonexistent allowances for people outside cars trying to navigate around roadwork .
The Sacramento City Council may consider including some or all of these recommendations in the future. The next budget will be adopted in June.
The council has not voted on whether to declare a state of emergency. In the declaration draft Maple submitted Sept. 17, no funding was allocated toward infrastructure improvements.
