At least 15 of the at least 30 deadly crashes on Sacramento city streets in 2024 involved an SUV or a pickup truck according to documents released by the Sacramento Police Department. Police also reported that 30 of the fatal collisions led to six arrests. This information was gleaned from a Public Records Act request. Sacramento Police released the dispatch notes related to 30 fatal crashes that occurred in 2024 and in all but two cases police identified vehicles that collided with the victims.
The documents revealed a fatal single-vehicle crash as well as a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a 22-year old motorcyclist. 10 of the deadly crashes involved an SUV and five involved a pickup truck. Another eight crashes involved sedans. The remaining was a crash that was outside the time period that involved five vehicles identified in the documents including two compact cars that struck other motorists, a freight truck, a tow truck and a Regional Transit bus. In a three-car collision, a minivan as well as an SUV were involved and in that crash the driver of the sedan died.
Most telling is the number of large vehicles represented in the document falls in line with research: Bigger cars are more dangerous to the people around them. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found in 2023 that, compared to vehicles with a hood height no more than 30 inches, vehicles with a hood height greater than 40 inches were 45% more likely to kill a pedestrian in a crash. Research released this month by IIHS found that taller vehicles are more dangerous in pedestrian crashes, even when traveling at slow speeds. In its report, the institute said that the “findings suggest that the 25-mph speed limit commonly used in residential neighborhoods in the U.S. may be too high for bustling city centers or other areas with large numbers of pedestrians.”
The World Health Organization and the United Nations agreed with the opinion. They have jointly endorsed 20 mph as the “maximum speed limit” for urban centers. Zoleka Mandela, a participant in the talks that led to that 20-mph benchmark, said anything faster “is a death sentence.” Sacramento leaders set a “Vision Zero” goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2027. With two years left to meet that goal, the death toll has shown no signs of falling. The City Council has been under pressure to act, and Councilmember Caity Maple has proposed a state of emergency declaration over cyclist and pedestrian safety.
Advocates hoped an emergency declaration could lead to change and asked the city council to follow through on the intention. Isaac Gonzalez, the founder of Slow Down Sacramento and a member of the city’s Active Transportation Commission, urged the council to support a “quick-build” program to force drivers to reduce their speed. The demographic of those who died in Sacramento car crashes has value as well. 18 of the 30 fatal victims, according to the records released, were pedestrians or cyclists.
There was a crash was outside the date range of the records request. A 53-year-old pedestrian was killed Nov. 29 in South Natomas. She was hit on Northgate Boulevard north of Turnstone Drive. Six of the 31 deaths included in the records were followed by a prompt arrest. Five of the arrests were of drivers who police say fled the scene. One driver who stayed on the scene was briefly treated at the hospital and then taken into custody and a man who police suspected of driving while intoxicated. A crash killed cyclist Jose Valladolid Ramirez, 36 and was not included in the records. After his death, police arrested the driver who allegedly hit him while under the influence of alcohol.
Previously, a spokesperson for the department said the driver was in a 2011 Dodge Ram, a large pickup truck. Valladolid’s wife, Mayra Miranda, has called for the city to make infrastructure changes to the road where her husband was killed. She wants to prevent such collisions from happening in the first place. “I just want that road to get fixed,” she said.
We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when insurance companies fail to offer full compensation. We help with serious injuries that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth, LLP. Our attorneys have more than 60 years of experience specializing in only representing injured people. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com
