FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The City of Fresno is looking to make the first steps on a major crackdown on what officials called an “epidemic” of red light runners, speeders, and distracted drivers.
20 people involved in traffic collisions have been killed so far in 2023 in the city.
On Thursday, Fresno City Council voted to approve a traffic study at certain intersections, to help find solutions to the deadly problem. It includes a study over the next 75 days before recommendations would be made for the 10 most dangerous intersections in the city. Recommendations could include red light cameras, pedestrian stop lights and radar speed limit signs.
“People have a right to feel safe on our roads. To be safe on our roads. And it’s our responsibility as city council members, and the mayor, and the police department, to make sure we do our part to keep people safe,” said Fresno City Councilmember of District 2, Mike Karbassi.
Karbassi and Fresno City Council Vice President Annalisa Perea, alongside Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama and city manager Georgeanne White, announced the study on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow we’re introducing a bill to the city council, to start a very quick assessment, within 75 days to come back identifying the top ten intersections where our drivers, and pedestrians, and bicyclists are most at risk,” said Karbassi.
“It’s also to recommend traffic safety improvements which does include a little bit of everything,” said Fresno City Council Vice President Annalisa Perea, who represents District 1.
Both Perea and Karbassi say those recommendations could be adding things like radar signs, updated pedestrian stop lights, and red light cameras.
“So far this year, there’s 20 who have died on our streets because somebody wasn’t paying attention, somebody was under the influence of some type of intoxicant, or something was distracting,” said Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama.
The announcement was held on the corner of Audubon Drive and Del Mar Avenue. Karbassi says the intersection will get a traffic light and three crosswalks, aimed at slowing drivers in the area after resident complaints.
It’s also just over a mile away from where a tow-truck driver drove ran through a red light, and hit and killed 22-year-old Amaya Chenot, at the intersection of Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue on April 12.
61-year-old Paul Moore was killed under a mile away near the intersection of Friant Audubon after he was hit by a driver as he rode his bicycle in January of 2022.
Between 2017 and 2022, 20,639 collisions happened in Fresno. In those collisions, 310 people were killed, and another 9,012 were injured.
In addition to the proposed study, Chief Balderrama said his street racing team is now fully staffed; another tool in the arsenal aimed at creating safer streets in Fresno.