Push to prevent traffic deaths grows as Sacramento sees 2nd deadly scooter crash in a week
SACRAMENTO – An 18-year-old Sacramento State freshman is dead after being hit while riding a scooter.
It's Sacramento's second deadly scooter crash in a week and another tragic reminder of how unsafe Sacramento streets can be for pedestrians and people on bikes and scooters.
A portrait of promise turned into another tragic example of Sacramento's traffic collisions.
Sacramento State University 18-year-old freshman Kaylee Xiong, a graduate of Valley High School just months ago, was hit and killed while riding an electric scooter on Cosumnes Boulevard and Franklin Boulevard.
Police are investigating what caused the crash.
It comes a week after 32-year-old Dr. Geohaira Sosa, a first-year psychiatry resident at UC Davis, was also killed in another Sacramento e-scooter collision. Police are also investigating that crash.
Sacramento councilmember Lisa Kaplan says deadly collisions in Sacramento have reached a tipping point.
"This is a crisis for our community it's a crisis for our city," Kaplan said. "Yes I may be a councilwoman, but I am a mom."
Isaac Gonzalez is the founder of Slow Down Sacramento.
"I look at the coroner data, every day, and almost every day there is an additional death," Gonzalez said.
He is pushing the city to make changes he describes as tactical urbanism, to prevent more traffic deaths.
"It can be the installation of bollards, it can be the installation of a curb, that you bolt into the ground, signs painted, but do it quickly," Gonzalez said.
Sacramento police released statistics showing so far this year there have been 23 deadly collisions and 23 deaths on Sacramento streets.
That compared to last year during the same time frame when there were 34 deadly collisions and 39 deaths.
The numbers do not break down collisions by motor vehicles, pedestrians, bikes, or scooters.
Gonzales calls scooters another form of rolling vehicles that need to be factored into changes to street safety.
"In the last week, we've lost probably two of our best and brightest in Sacramento, due to preventable vehicular violence," Gonzalez said.
"We need to make changes in the city," Kaplan said.
Councilmember Kaplan says she would support a transportation tax measure to fund changes, in hopes of protecting Sacramento's future from a collision course of heartbreak.
Xiong's alma mater Valley High School released a statement Thursday reading in part:
"Kaylee Xiong was one of those students every teacher dreams of having in their class. She was smart, witty, funny, inspiring, helpful to her peers and to her teachers. We looked forward to seeing her every day and she will be missed dearly. She was a great student, a great friend, a great sister to her baby sister and to her brother, Nicholas, another amazing Valley High graphic design student. Our heart breaks for Kaylee's family."