Fresno, CA auto accident news roundup

by Jeffrey Nadrich Managing Partner, Nadrich & Cohen, LLP

The following is a roundup of recent Fresno, CA auto accident news, courtesy of Nadrich & Cohen, LLP:

• Rain-slickened streets caused two auto accidents in Fresno on March 23. An SUV, a car and a pickup collided before 6 AM at the intersection of North Belmont Avenue and East Cedar Avenue. The Tower District also saw an accident, where an SUV heading northbound on Van Ness Avenue hit a stop sign, a tree and a flower shop at East Floradora Avenue.

• A Fresno County Sheriff’s deputy was extremely lucky to not be seriously injured after his pickup truck flipped over after an impact on March 22. The deputy was westbound on West Shaw Avenue while responding to an emergency. A separate driver who was traveling southbound on North West Avenue failed to hear the siren of or see the emergency lights on the pickup truck of the deputy.

• A 32 year-old man was killed on March 19 in Fresno when a pickup truck struck him in central Fresno. The accident occurred before 4 AM at the intersection of North Weber and West Princeton avenues.

30 pedestrians died in Fresno, CA traffic accidents in 2018. Fresno’s former police chief Jerry Dyer said that at least 19 of those 30 were under the influence when they were killed.

A Governors Highway Safety Association report estimated that 6,590 pedestrians were killed in the United States in 2019, the highest number in 30 years and a 5 percent increase over 2018’s numbers.

2009 saw 4,109 pedestrian deaths and that number rose almost every year since. The report mentioned cellphone use, larger and heavier vehicles, intoxication, roads designed for automobiles instead of pedestrians and people walking in the dark as contributing to the increase in pedestrian deaths.

The report said that while daytime pedestrian deaths rose 16 percent from 2009 to 2018, nighttime pedestrian deaths rose 67 percent during that same time period. The report suggested better street lighting and more nighttime patrols for countering the trend.

Intoxication played a significant role in the increase in pedestrian deaths. The report said 33% of pedestrians and 16% of drivers involved in pedestrian deaths had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher.

“Pedestrian safety can be addressed by conducting high-visibility impaired driving enforcement in areas with robust nighttime pedestrian activity,” the report said.

Almost half of all pedestrian deaths from January through June 2019 occurred in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Arizona. The report cited these states’ warmer climate as a possible factor.