Pedestrians hit by cars in El Cerrito crosswalks: Contact city council NOW to demand safer streetsTwo 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. “Unfortunately we had a pretty serious 2-week period of traffic collisions,” El Cerrito Police Chief Paul Keith told El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll. 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. 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.” Click here to learn more about the accidents.
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