Sacramento submits proposal to declare state of emergency over pedestrian deaths
SACRAMENTO — The City of Sacramento submitted a proposal Monday to declare a state of emergency over pedestrian safety and traffic deaths.
The initiative comes after the third fatal vehicle versus pedestrian accident this month.
"I don't go on as many walks or I don't take my bike out as much as I would like to," said Dan O'Brien, who lives in north Natomas. "I am afraid that people are not going to be careful on those streets."
He is one of the many neighbors who said he is avoiding Banfield and Club Field drives after two bicyclists were killed in vehicle collisions within months of each other.
"It's just heartbreaking to think that someone was killed needlessly like that," said Karen Hodgson, who lives in North Natomas.
There have been 11 deadly vehicle-versus-pedestrian crashes this year that now has city leaders considering declaring a state of emergency.
"What can we do that's very urgent to help people understand what their responsibility is when they are behind the wheel of a vehicle and what pedestrians can do to protect themselves," Vice Mayor Caity Maple said.
Maple drafted the proposal with her colleagues that would allow the city manager to identify funding for a public education campaign focused on driver education, pedestrian and bicyclist awareness and traffic safety.
She hopes it will open up state and federal funding to complete road projects as outlined in its 2018-approved Vision Zero plan that lists the high priority areas. That plan was updated in 2023.
"There is a disproportionate impact on our lower income communities in Sacramento where we have more of these kinds of incidents that result in death and serious injury," Sacramento Mayor Darrel Steinberg said.
From 2012 through 2024, there were 5,138 traffic collisions where a pedestrian or bike was struck by a vehicle within Sacramento city limits, and there have been just over 400 pedestrian versus vehicle deaths since 2018 to date.
"There's no question that the city and its budget are stretched very thin," Steinberg said.
The city is stretched thin on dollars and resources. Steinberg said the city does not have the traffic safety units it once had due to low staffing, but the plan is to start prioritizing enforcement.
"One tragedy is one too many," Steinberg said.
City leaders are taking street safety in Sacramento seriously and they are calling on the community to do the same.
"I just have a greater higher sensitivity to it, and I want to be safe," O'Brien said. "I want people to get home after work."
Sacramento City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan hosted a town hall meeting on Monday night at The Club at Natomas Park to discuss the public safety issues in her community.
