"I get nervous on weekends or after midnight,” said Jose Sanchez, who lives on one of the roads deemed high priority for safety improvements. “That's where most of the accidents are at.”
Jose Sanchez has lived on Imperial Avenue for about 30 years.
So when I told him city traffic engineers said it needed some safety improvements, he wasn’t surprised.
“I've had a car land here actually, got hit in the corner and rolled and landed right on my walkway here,” said Sanchez. “I had a car totaled, and that was hit here, parked where I parked out here.”
In the recommendations for upgrades, the city’s memo says to add new chevron warning signs and ask the San Diego Police Department to increase enforcement.
“Most of the neighbors would want a light, a light right there, but they told us it was too close,” said Sanchez.
The other locations traffic engineers say have high crash rates are:
- 15th Street at F Street;
- 8th Avenue at Broadway;
- Bayard Street at Grand Avenue;
- 8th Avenue at University;
- Kettner Boulevard at Sassafras Street;
- 10th Avenue at A Street;
- Otay Center Drive at Siempre Viva Road;
- Garnet Avenue at Mission Bay Drive;
- Fairmount Avenue between Montezuma Road and Talmadge Canyon Row;
- Imperial Avenue between 53rd Street and Jacinto Drive;
- Main Street between the I-5 off ramp and Woden Street;
- Midway Drive between Kemper Street and Duke Street; and
- Mission Gorge Road between Twain Avenue and Mission Gorge Place.
Some of the recommendations include re-striping crosswalks, adding signage, and even installing new signals.
But some are questioning whether the data should have focused more on pedestrians than cars.
“Some, you know, areas with high vehicle-on-vehicle crashes, those are dangerous, and those should also be looked at as well,” said Aria Grosman, Policy Manager at Circulate San Diego. “But sometimes those are a lot less likely to result in death when compared to a pedestrian on a car or a bicyclist on a car.”
Those with Circulate San Diego have found 15 different intersections they want the city to make safer, but say San Diego is moving in the right direction.
“I think it's a good first step, but we need to keep the momentum going,” said Grossman.
