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."

Safety Town Hall Meeting in Natomas

Monday night, dozens of Natomas residents came together for a town hall focused on safer roads, hosted by Sacramento District 1 Councilmember Lisa Kaplan.

Joined by the Acting Area Captain for Sacramento Police, Director of Public Works, and the Supervising Engineer for the Traffic Engineering for the City of Sacramento, the meeting addressed solutions to the road safety crisis.

Many questions and comments on changes centered on Banfield and Club Center Drive, an intersection that has had two fatal pedestrian incidents and one serious injury in the last three months. In attendance at the town hall, family members of Sau Voong, 84, who was killed in June in the crosswalk in the same intersection of Natomas Park.

"I'm glad that they're doing something right now, anything they can do to help make it safer out there," said Ken Voong, Sau Voong's grandson, "It is now our duty to make sure Natomas is safe."

The Voong family attended the town hall, they said, in support of changes to make roads in their community, safer.

"I'm glad that the community cares, it's not just my Grandpa." said Ken Voong.

Councilmember Kaplan presented a plan that is in the works to put in high-visibility lines and school crossing striping to the intersection where Voong was killed. She explained to constituents, who cheered at the news, that this was a short-term solution that could be more quickly while other long-term solutions are worked out.