Number of bicyclists, pedestrians hit by cars on the rise in Sacramento
FAIRFIELD — The number of people being killed by cars while walking or biking continues to rise in Sacramento.
Now, some are calling for change and are organizing a traffic safety rally on Tuesday at Sacramento City Hall.
Another roadside memorial for someone who lost their life while walking on Sacramento streets sits along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. A woman was hit and killed by a car early Sunday morning.
She is one of five fatalities this weekend caused by vehicles and one of 39 people killed this year in the Sacramento city limits. Another pedestrian died in a crash a block away from there just one week earlier.
"Fatal collision, wreck, driver died, we kind of report on it like it's nothing," said Isaac Gonzalez, the founder of Slow Down Sacramento.
His group is trying to cut down on the growing number of people being killed by cars.
"For the last five or so years, they're going the wrong direction," Gonzalez said. "They're going way up."
He said the most troubling is the high number of fatal hit-and-runs.
"There's about 140 collisions in Sacramento County in the past five years, and we know that 90% of them are unsolved," Gonzalez said. "So there's literally a license to kill in Sacramento County and that don't stop."
Gonzalez wants the city to install more traffic calming measures like plastic bollards that can slow drivers down.
"You can get behavioral change like that for pennies on the dollar," he said. "It really is a very good way to get the behavior you want out of drivers."
In 40% of the cases, it's the pedestrian that contributed to the crash.
"People cross the street in between the corners or dark places because there's a big distance between posted crosswalks," said David Reich of the National Road Safety Foundation.
The types of cars on the roads are also causing fatalities to rise.
"We've got bigger, heavier cars which does not bode well for the pedestrian," Reich said.
The solution they say is simply to reduce speeds.
"Take personal responsibility and drive slower," Gonzalez said. "Save a life, maybe save your own life."
In Sacramento, 60% of fatal collisions occur on streets where the speed limit is over 40 miles an hour.
