A Safer San Pablo Avenue

A vigil for a pedestrian who was killed and demonstration for a safer San Pablo Avenue

About 40 people demanding a safer San Pablo Avenue gathered today (Dec. 22) at a crosswalk where a collision that turned out to be fatal took place Nov. 15 on San Pablo Avenue. They displayed signs asking drivers to slow down.

“How would you feel if you killed a pedestrian?” asked a sign displayed by Tom Adams, a resident of Richmond Annex.

Vigil for Donna Revecho

Janet Byron, co-founder of El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk and Roll, said the gathering was also a vigil for Donna Revecho, 66, a Richmond Annex resident who was hit by a car at 2:15 p.m. on Nov. 15 while walking in the crosswalk at Waldo Avenue.

Revecho was taken by helicopter to a regional trauma center. She died about three weeks later. A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help her family.

In another collision that happened at 6:34 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, a pedestrian in a crosswalk was struck by a car traveling north on San Pablo Avenue at Madison Avenue, police said. The pedestrian was treated for head injuries, an injured arm and broken collar bone.

Cars “Going Way Too Fast”

“I’m here because cars are going way too fast on San Pablo Avenue and in places like this people are literally taking their lives in their hands to cross,” Byron said.

El Cerrito resident Barbara Birch said, “If there’s a crosswalk it should be safe to cross. I support bike and pedestrian safety. I think that drivers are not as careful as they should be.”

George Spies, leader of an Oakland-based group called Traffic Violence Rapid Response, said he was invited to help with today’s vigil in El Cerrito because vigils held in Oakland since June 2022 have helped to reduce collisions, deaths, and injuries.

“It’s awesome to see so many people come out to demand street safety,” Spies said.

Spies said a design like that of San Pablo Avenue encourages drivers to go fast.

“You could drive 50 miles an hour on this street,” he said. “I’d like to see the infrastructure change.”

Funding for Safety Improvements

El Cerrito City Council member Rebecca Saltzman agreed.

She added that El Cerrito’s staff has been talking with Caltrans about possible pedestrian safety improvements on the street, which is also State Route 123. Caltrans has jurisdiction over the street.

It has plans to repave San Pablo Avenue in 2026 as part a preventative maintenance strategy, which “focuses on repairs to existing roadways in fair condition with considerable remaining service life and does not alter existing roadway geometry,” according to a city staff report presented to the City Council on Dec. 2.

In talks between the city and Caltrans, one focus has been on making improvements at uncontrolled crosswalks as part of the repaving project.

As a result, the staff report said, improvements will be made at six locations.

However, Saltzman said, many more locations are on a list of desired improvements but are not funded in the planned 2026 repaving.

She said people need to put pressure on Caltrans to fund more pedestrian improvements sooner.

List of Crosswalk Improvements

The crosswalk improvements currently included in the 2026 project are:

•  Two Rapid Flashing Beacons: one at Carlos Avenue and another at Sacramento Street

•  High Visibility Markings at Waldo Avenue, Portola Drive, Madison Avenue, and Lincoln Avenue.

Listed as “future Caltrans safety projects” are:

• Flashing beacons at Lincoln Avenue and Madison Avenue

• New mid-block crosswalks with flashing beacons at or near Blake Street, Cypress Avenue, JeffersonAvenue, Plumas Avenue, Huntington Avenue, and Avila Street.

Saltzman said, “It’s on all of us to demand that Caltrans puts in the infrastructure.”

Byron said there are many other possible approaches that could be used, including cameras and speed enforcement, and islands to provide protection for pedestrians as they cross.