Pedestrians hit by cars in El Cerrito crosswalks

A 70-year-old woman was struck by a car and seriously injured while attempting to cross San Pablo Avenue from Waldo Street. Source: Microsoft Bing map

By Janet Byron

Two pedestrians were hit by vehicles in crosswalks on San Pablo Avenue, two others were hit while crossing Central Avenue at the Ohlone Greenway and Carlson Boulevard at Central Avenue, and a drunk driver plowed into two cars on Carlson Boulevard causing injuries, all within a 2-week period in November in El Cerrito. 

All four pedestrians were in marked crosswalks when the accidents occurred and the two incidents on San Pablo Avenue resulted in serious injuries, with a 70-year-old woman transported by helicopter to the regional trauma center with multiple life-threatening injuries.

“Unfortunately we had a pretty serious two-week period of traffic collisions,” El Cerrito Police Chief Paul Keith told El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll.

At their Dec. 2 meeting, the El Cerrito City Council will be reviewing a contract with Caltrans for street, sidewalk, and landscaping improvements along San Pablo Avenue (State Route 123), with El Cerrito committing up to $400,000 over the next two years to the project. El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll urges everyone who believes El Cerrito must prioritize street safety in this project to email the El Cerrito city council at cityclerk@elcerrito.gov before 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2 or show up to speak at public comment at 6 p.m. Tell the council and city staff that the Caltrans project must include urgently needed improvements to slow down traffic and make intersections and crosswalks safer along San Pablo Avenue.   

“San Pablo is El Cerrito’s most dangerous street,” El Cerrito Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman wrote in a Facebook post about the accidents. “We must make it safer to protect lives.”

On Friday, Nov. 7, at 6:34 p.m. a motorist struck a pedestrian at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Madison Avenue, sending them to the hospital in an ambulance for head injuries, an injured arm, and broken collar bone.

The most serious of the collisions was on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2:15 p.m. Livable El Cerrito reported that a motorist in his nineties with a valid driver’s license struck a 70-year-old woman who was attempting to cross San Pablo Avenue at Waldo Avenue in the crosswalk. She was taken by Life Flight helicopter to the regional trauma center. “The driver told  police he never saw the pedestrian until he hit her. He was shaken up but not injured,” Chief Keith told Livable El Cerrito. 

A friend of the woman who was struck posted on social media: "The woman hit is a very dear friend of mine. Her injuries are extremely severe. She has multiple skull fractures, facial fractures, broken ribs, scapula, femur, pelvis, hand/wrist, etc. Please, even if you don’t know her, pray for her. Her name is Donna."

Liveable El Cerrito reported that another collision happened Monday, Nov. 10, at 6:49 p.m. on San Pablo Avenue south of Moeser Lane, when a driver traveling north on San Pablo at about 25 miles per hour was rear-ended by a northbound drunk driver. “The impact pushed the car in front across the median and it came to rest facing into the southbound lanes of San Pablo. After that, the driver who had hit the car from behind continued forward toward the Jay Vee Center parking lot and collided with a parked car,” Livable El Cerrito reported.

Chief Keith said that all drivers in all three collisions stopped and provided statements. “We arrested the drunk driver from the incident on Nov. 10.”

Several other pedestrians were struck during the same two weeks. A pedestrian was hit by a vehicle at Carlson Boulevard and Central Avenue on Nov. 7 at 6:47 p.m. According to a notification on the El Cerrito police scanner, the pedestrian was in a crosswalk and the car did not stop; the pedestrian was not seriously injured. Furthermore, a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle in the Ohlone Greenway crosswalk at Central Avenue on Nov. 17 at 6:31 p.m. “I saw her myself and she was definitely dazed but didn't appear to be in critical condition,” said Bill Wood, a member of El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll coordinating committee. 

“People walking and biking use this crossing a lot, as it connects to El Cerrito Plaza BART station,” El Cerrito Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman wrote in a Facebook post. “We must slow cars to protect lives.”