Modesto can be dangerous for pedestrians. We looked at data and talked to experts about why
The days are growing shorter, and daylight-saving time ends in less than a month. With the sun setting earlier comes increased concern about pedestrian crashes in low-light conditions.
Just Wednesday night, a motorcycle vs. pedestrian crash left two people with minor injuries. The collision was about 7:45 p.m., well after sunset, at Paradise Road and South Martin Luther King Drive, according to the Modesto Fire Department.
Modesto was ranked the third most dangerous city for pedestrians when compared to 60 other California cities of similar population in 2021, following a pattern of ranking that has shown progressively poorer pedestrian safety since 2017.
The Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) tracks injuries and fatalities reported by the California Highway Patrol.
Nighttime crashes were ranked most frequent in Modesto compared to other similarly sized cities.
Tim Weisberg, deputy director of marketing and public affairs with OTS, said his office sees more crashes between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., which is why it focuses on highlighting nighttime crashes, particularly for pedestrians.
“Nationally, almost three out of four pedestrians that are struck are struck at night,” he said.
Modesto also ranked the worst for crashes that involved drunk drivers under the age of 21.
“The reality is there are a variety of factors at nighttime,” Weisberg said. “It’s not visible. If there is alcohol, a lot of people tend to drink late at night, so you do see more crashes in the later time periods.”
The city also ranked second worst among similar cities in California for overall traffic safety.
The Modesto City Council on Tuesday night, Oct. 8, adopted a plan to address pedestrian safety. That morning, a ceremony ushered in a large-scale improvement project at Modesto High School, including traffic safety improvements to protect students crossing busy H Street and Paradise Road. The council referenced the 2020 Systemic Safety Analysis Report, citing data from a four-year period between 2011 and 2015 and a Local Roadway Safety Plan completed in 2022.
More recent provisional data, available through UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System, showed that in 2022 in Modesto, there were 100 pedestrian crashes resulting in injury or fatality and 108 in 2023, consistent with previous years. An additional 28 were reported in the first quarter of 2024, the most up-to-date data available.
In the 2023 crashes, nine pedestrians were killed. And three days into 2024, a crash killed a 66-year-old woman while she was in a Tully Road crosswalk.
Betty Gay is a 42-year-old elementary school art teacher living in central Modesto. She sent a detailed slide presentation to the mayor about how best to improve the situation.
“Since I’ve had kids, it’s something I think about often,” she said.
The low rankings may put Modesto in line for grant funding for additional enforcement, but OTS does not provide funding for infrastructure. For infrastructure, the city of Modesto has largely relied on grants through Measures L and H.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of Modesto High School on Oct. 8 was nine years in the making. It included Measure L, Modesto City Schools and city funds to accomplish.
Sandeep Sandhu, associate engineer with the city, said this improvement and others on Chicago and Washington avenues are collectively known as the “Paradise Road Project.” It involved the creation of two traffic circles, a road diet and new fencing along the median to aid in slowing traffic and increasing visibility of pedestrians.
The project’s actual completion date was in August, to meet the deadline of the beginning of the school year.
Still, in areas without major revamps, accidents and near misses are common.
Graham Lajoie, a 43-year-old stay-at-home dad living in north Modesto, had a close call with his nearly 2-year-old daughter on their way to the neighborhood park.
“We had gotten to about the halfway point, where, if the road was painted well enough, you could see that bar creating the indication that there is a stop line,” he said. “A white truck just took the turn while we were still on the crosswalk — maybe three feet away from us.”
City official says public input is crucial
After the incident, and because of his busy schedule, he didn’t think to reach out to the city to request that it repaint the lines, Lajoie said.
Sandhu said the main way the city knows what to address is through direct interactions with the public or reviews of data. “Public input is a big way to track a lot of things,” she said.
Repainting crosswalks is less time-consuming than many of the larger projects she undertakes.
“As we go through, we’ll implement what we can if it’s something simple like refreshing the crosswalks and pavement legends and stuff like that,” she said. “But when it gets to more infrastructure, we then have to slowly chip away at things.”
Lajoie said that in his experience, the inadequate upkeep in residential areas of Modesto allows drivers to make excuses for rolling stops.
“At Manor Oak towards Lincoln Oak, if you stop at the stop sign and look to your left, the road bends and you’re blocked off with shrubs,” he said. “So you’d have to leak onto the street, and in doing, so you could easily hit a pedestrian or someone on a bike.”
The city created a neighborhood traffic calming program where residents can request speed cushions within residential areas to help slow down traffic, but it requires a 60% approval from neighbors.
Gay said she’s noticed the pedestrian safety messages on electrical boxes that read “Stay alert, don’t get hurt” and “Unplug, don’t be a distracted walker,” but thinks it misses the mark.
Pedestrians, drivers share responsibility
“I think it puts all of the onus on the pedestrians to be safe, but both sides need to be safe,” she said. “They both need to be responsible.”
Pedestrians have the right of way while in the crosswalks, marked or unmarked.
In California, as of this year, jaywalking is no longer criminalized except in circumstances where “an immediate hazard exists if the approaching vehicle is so near or is approaching so fast that a reasonably careful person would realize that there is a danger of collision,” according to the Freedom To Walk Act.
Weisberg said the traffic light box wraps, which were part of a grant given to the Modesto Police Department three years ago, are intended to be seen by those on bikes or walking.
“Drivers and vehicles play an outsized role in the responsibility of keeping everyone safe,” he said. “Pedestrians don’t have seat belts, they don’t have air bags, they don’t have the same protections as drivers and passengers do.”
This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 1:23 PM.
