Crossing guard’s death renews city debate about traffic safety
Community has had highest rate of pedestrian and bicycle fatalities in the area in past 10 years
LAFAYETTE >> Jessica Lordan was distraught when she learned that a crossing guard was struck and killed outside Stanley Middle School. She was also angry.
The death of Ashley Dias might not have happened if the city did more to protect pedestrians and cyclists from passing vehicles, Lordan and other residents maintain.
Changes are especially needed near schools where kids are forced to walk in roadways because there aren’t sidewalks there, they say.
Among the places where some are demanding changes is Topper Lane, where a car narrowly missed Lordan and her children a couple of years ago. The lane connects with School Street, where Stanley Middle School is located and where Dias was killed.
A car swept past her family so close that her son, then a kindergartner, fell off his scooter onto the ground. Lordan was pushing a stroller, she said.
“It was so close that I punched the rear of the car and shouted at the driver,” said Lordan, whose family has lived in Lafayette since 2017. “I did not get the license number because I was flustered. And the police did not take a report because no one was injured. That’s part of the problem. There’s no record of the near-misses to get an accurate understanding of how dangerous these streets can be.”
Dias, 45, grew up in Lafayette and worked in the biotechnology industry. He died on Sept. 8, his second day volunteering as a crossing guard.
Witnesses said Dias pushed at least one child to safety from an oncoming SUV before he was hit. The driver is cooperating with investigators.
“What happened is a true tragedy in every way,” Mayor Susan Candell said in a statement. “We will need to mourn and heal together as a community and support all of the families who were involved.”
Dias was the sixth pedestrian or cyclist killed by a vehicle in Lafayette since 2014.
In April, an SUV struck Joe Shami, 86, an accomplished cyclist and lifelong bicycle advocate, as he was riding at Pleasant Hill Road and Olympic Boulevard.
In July 2020, 10-year-old Leo Cellura was killed riding his bicycle near Burton Valley Elementary School after colliding with a delivery truck.
Other fatalities include Maria White, 78, walking in front of the Bentley School in 2014, and a Sui Yuen, 60, killed as he walked near Lafayette Elementary School in 2017.
“The city, in general, does not have a culture of supporting pedestrians and cyclists,” said Eric Law, a Lafayette father who has been campaigning to get a safe bike route to Acalanes High School via Pleasant Hill Road.
Law launched the effort about four years ago, thinking the path would be in place in time for his children to use after they got older. But while the city has expressed support, no work has been done, he said.
The state has approved $238,000 to pay for the design and environmental costs for the path, according to Lafayette officials. Overall construction would cost about $3.1 million.
Jenifer Lamken Paul, a mother of three, has lived in Lafayette since 2006. The family lives near Springhill Elementary School.
Fearing for her children’s safety because of traffic, she campaigned to get a sidewalk built outside her home on Quandt Court to nearby Pleasant Hill Road. It took nine years, she said, before the sidewalk appeared.
“We can’t control reckless drivers,” Paul said. “But we can make changes to intersections that are dangerous. Inaction is not an option.”
Collision records underscore the danger that exists for pedestrians and cyclists in Lafayette.
Over the past 10 years, there have been 23.08 pedestrian and bicycle fatalities per 100,000 population in Lafayette compared with 18.22 in Berkeley and 12.89 in Walnut Creek, according to a state database that collects and processes information gathered from collision scenes.
Lafayette also was the least safe of comparable nearby suburban communities in terms of bike and pedestrian fatalities or serious injuries as a result of collisions from 2014 to 2019, the system’s data shows. Those numbers are 22.62 per 100,000 population over the five-year period in Lafayette, 20.20 in nearby Orinda, 12.31 in Moraga, and 9.36 in Danville.
“In other words, it’s safer to walk or ride a bicycle in Berkeley than it is in Lafayette,” said Jennifer Liebermann, a Stanley Middle School parent who supports stricter safety measures.
Liebermann noted the data does not include the recent deaths of Dias, Shami or Cellura.
Law put the collision numbers down partly to speeding drivers among the narrow, leafy streets of this quiet city of about 25,000 residents. But he also blamed what he described as the reluctance of officials to change things.
“The city drags its feet,” he said. “The city loves to study but will never build anything.”
The City Council will get an update today on what’s being done to protect students as they make their way to school.
“We are always working on these issues,” said Richard Whitmore, Lafayette School District superintendent. “It’s a partnership with the city.”
A report for the council notes that reflectors were installed near Springhill Elementary School last year. Also, a flashing beacon crossing system and a radar sign to encourage drivers to slow down are now in place near St. Perpetua School on Hamlin Road.
“Pedestrian and bicycle safety, particularly around schools, is one of the city’s top priorities,” Lafayette spokeswoman Suzanne Iarla said in an email.
In August, the City Council approved installing speed humps, cutting back plants and painting curbs red near some intersections close to Burton Valley Elementary School to slow down vehicles and to help motorists see better while making turns.
Students who attend the school are forced to walk in the road and weave among parked cars as they head to classes because the street has no sidewalk. It’s the same dilemma facing Stanley Middle School students as they travel along Topper Lane.
Among the possible recommendations for Topper Lanes in a study from last year was making part of the street one-way for vehicles, which would open space currently used by traffic for a bicycle and walking path.
A 2013 report suggested building a sidewalk on a portion of the lane.
As part of the changes planned around Burton Valley, the city will add a stop sign on Indian Way at Merriewood Drive — less than a block from the school — and add reflectors on streets to alert drivers when they veer out of the traffic lane.
The measures will be in place for one year. At that point, city officials will determine if the changes boosted safety, including reducing speeding.
Pushback from some residents who don’t want changes on their streets, such as parking restrictions during school hours to clear a path for kids, contribute to the delay in getting safety measures, Lordan said.
Liebermann said she and her family moved to Lafayette from Oakland in 2013 because of the good reputation of Lafayette schools.
“We actually picked a house where kids could walk and bike to school,” she said. “But now we are in a situation where they are not safe doing that.”