Tag: pedestrian collision

Fruitridge Road walker and bicyclist collisions

Dan AllisonLeave a comment

For other posts on Fruitridge Road, see category: Fruitridge Road.

In my main post on the Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan, I used the collisions map from the existing conditions report. On further reflection, I should have also used the Bicycle and Pedestrian KSI map, below. KSI is ‘killed or severely injured’, so addresses more serious collisions, and not the abundant but less severe collisions that occur on Fruitridge.

map of Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan - Bicycle and Pedestrian KSI Collisions
Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan – Bicycle and Pedestrian KSI Collisions

For this ten year period, there are four bicycle collisions and 17 pedestrian collisions shown. The pie chart in the existing conditions report certainly justifies a focus on bicyclists and walkers, given that they are a much smaller portion of roadway users than motor vehicle drivers.

diagram of Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan - KSI by mode
Fruitridge Road Safety and Mobility Plan – KSI by mode

Yet the project as proposed focuses on bicyclists and not much if at all on people walking. In many cases, roadway reallocation gives wider and/or protected space to bicyclists, but it is not clear if sidewalks will be improved at all, and I was unable to find any reference to more frequent safe crossings of the roadway.

While the existing conditions report does not provide detail about these collisions, one could speculate that the two at the Fruitridge Park and Community Center pedestrian crossing is due to drivers ignoring that signal. This crossing is within the county, not the city. Another speculation is that the high density of collision just west of Stockton Blvd is due to the high density of driveways with turning in and turning out conflicts, 53rd Street, and likely people crossing outside crosswalks between the many businesses on the north and south side of Fruitridge, recognizing that the distance between safe marked crossings is too long and encourages crossing in between.

I had thought that I could gather more information on the collisions in the city’s Vision Zero Dashboard and Map, but unfortunately that map and the existing conditions report do not match closely. I don’t know why.

Sac Vision Zero new intersections map

Dan Allison1 Comment

Thinking about the intersections maps and what they show (Sac Vision Zero top intersections all modes, Sac Vision Zero top ped intersections, Sac Vision Zero Top 5 Corridors and top intersections), I thought it might be interesting to present the data in a different way. The two maps below show all of the top intersections identified in the all-modes, pedestrian, and bicycle data. They are divided into a north section and a south section so that the intersections and their labels are visible. The maps are available as pdfs (north, south).

legend for intersections on maps below
Sacramento top collision intersections, north section
Sacramento top collision intersections, south section

The intersection data is in the table below.

What’s next? I’ll take a closer look at some of these intersections. For people who follow traffic engineering, it will probably be immediately obvious why these intersections are dangerous. A detailed analysis requires looking at each collision record individually, which I don’t have time to do. The city did make use of incident reports, which contain more information than the data in SWITRS, in developing the Vision Zero Plan.

Sac Vision Zero top ped intersections

Dan Allison3 Comments

As promised, a follow-on to my post on the top bicycle collision intersections in Sacramento (Sac Vision Zero Top 5 Corridors and top intersections), here is the same sort of analysis for pedestrian collisions. I used a somewhat different data set, this time only killed and severe injury crashes (KSI), for the years 2009-2017. This mirrors the data the city used in the Vision Zero Top 5 Corridors document, and so is not directly comparable to the different criteria I used on the bicycle post.

Pedestrian (walker) collisions are more dispersed that bicycle collisions, fewer occurring at intersections and more in between. Of the 408 collisions, 70 were at intersections, 17%, compared to 69% for bicycle collisions. Of these 408 collisions, twelve intersections stood out: Amherst St & Florin Rd, Marysville Blvd & Grand Ave, and Watt Ave & Auburn Blvd, each with three; and 15th St & Capitol Mall, 29th St & Florin Rd, 5th St & N St, 7th St & J St, Stockton Blvd & Broadway, Stockton Blvd & Lemon Hill Ave, Riverside Dr & X St, and Julliard Dr & Kiefer Blvd & Folsom Blvd, each with two. Of these 12 intersections, 4 are on Top Five corridors: Marysville Blvd & Grand Ave on the Marysville corridor, Stockton Blvd & Broadway on the Stockton-Broadway corridor, Stockton Blvd & Lemon Hill Ave on the South Stockton corridor, and 29th St & Florin Rd on the Florin corridor.

The map belows shows the city corridors and the twelve intersections, with the number of collisions and intersection name labeled. There is also a pdf available.

map Vision Zero top pedestrian intersections
Sacramento pedestrian collision top intersections, with Vision Zero corridors

There is a better alignment between the five designated corridors and pedestrian collision intersections than was true for bicycle collisions.

I will point out that the Julliard Dr & Kiefer Blvd & Folsom Blvd intersection is the site of three pedestrian collisions and four bicycle collisions, which is higher than any other intersection in the city. It should really be a focus for the city.

Addition 2021-03-02: Someone asked how the pedestrian collision locations relate to disadvantaged communities. Below, a map with CalEnviroScreen 3 2018-06 (CES) layer, with red end being higher pollution, green being lower, and weighted with income. CES is not the only measure of disadvantage, but it is one commonly used.

pedestrian collisions in Sacramento

Dan Allison1 Comment

I often wonder if governments really focus on the issues rather than responding to incidents. In the case of pedestrians and the City of Sacramento, is the city really placing its attention, and its dollars, where they need to be to enhance the safety of pedestrians? I’ve created some maps to show where the problems lie (see note at bottom about data sources and how these were created).

The collisions mapped are:

  • Date: 01-01-2004 to 12-31-2012
  • Location: City of Sacramento only (no, I can’t explain why some are outside the city)
  • Victim role: Pedestrian
  • Victim degree of injury: Killed or Severe Injury
  • 388 collisions
  • ArcGIS link

The first map, a point map of the entire city, shows:

  • the greatest density of collisions is in downtown/midtown, but there are certainly plenty in other areas
  • almost all collisions happen at intersections, not mid-block
  • almost all collisions are associated with major streets, called arterials and collectors, which are wide and high speed, intended to move motor vehicle traffic at speed rather than provide for multi-modal transportation

pedestrian collisions, killed or severe injury
pedestrian collisions, killed or severe injury, point map

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