Sacramento BHC
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Dangerous South Sac Roadway Claims Yet Another Victim
Earlier this month, a 61-year-old Sacramento bicyclist named Molly Arndt was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, a few hundred feet away from where a young West Campus High School student was killed back in January. The incident took place just north of the intersection of Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard, the third most dangerous crossing in Sacramento last year, according to the Sacramento Police Department's 2011
annual report.
Members of the community, along with
WALKSacramento and other BHC grantees, have been discussing various safety options ever since Michelle Murigi, the 16-year-old West Campus student, was killed while using a crosswalk in the beginning of the year. Terry Preston, Complete Streets Coordinator for WALKSacramento, has been focused on studying the area around this dangerous intersection to come up with real solutions.
"That intersection and that area is one of the most dangerous ones in the city for bicyclists and pedestrians," says Preston. "There are more collisions at or around there than anywhere else."
Preston
recently released a report on his findings surrounding the Fruitridge/Stockton intersection, and how it could be made safer for pedestrians and bicyclist alike. While his recommendations for this hotspot have not yet come to pass, a major improvement for pedestrians trying to cross the road has been installed just a few miles up the road on Stockton Boulevard and Sherman Way.
Sacramento is now home to California’s first
HAWK beacon (
High-Intensity
Activated cross
wal
k beacon), a state-of-the-art traffic signal designed to make sure that motorists stop for pedestrians by using a series of red and yellow lights. Pedestrians who are trying to cross Stockton Boulevard in order to get to the UC Davis Medical campus can now use the HAWK to alert car and truck drivers of their presence and safely navigate the crosswalk.
One example of the HAWK singal
“Given the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour and vehicle traffic of 24,000 per day, we agreed that this location is a good candidate for the hybrid beacon to enhance pedestrian safety,” says City Traffic Engineer Hector Barron. “It gives pedestrians and drivers plenty of forewarning. We may find other candidate City intersections where this treatment may be appropriate.”
The HAWK system is less-than 1/3 of the cost of a traditional traffic signal, making it not only a great safety feature, but affordable as well during these tough economic times. Preston’s second recommendation in his report includes the consideration of just such a device on Fruitridge Road, and with the resent passing of Measure U, the local sales tax increase for public safety expenditures, a HAWK signal just might be what South Sacramento needed to prevent yet another preventable death on our busy roadways.
