No Stop Signs for Deadly Intersection

Six-year-old Sioreli Torres Zamora while walking in a crosswalk at Bay Road & Gloria Way in East Palo Alto on her way to school on Sept. 28.

A boy was struck by a vehicle while walking the same direction in the same crosswalk on April 5. He suffered very serious injuries but survived. A bicyclist was also seriously injured after being stuck by a vehicle there on June 2 when the motorist failed to yield the right-of-way. 

After Sioreli's death on Sept. 28, more than 100 residents marched to East Palo Alto Police Headquarters to demand the motorist's arrest and that traffic laws be enforced on Bay Rd. Over 500 petition signatures were also gathered, demanding safety improvements including stop signs, flashing lights, crossing guards. 

The city commissioned a traffic engineering study of the deadly intersection, which will be presented at the Tuesday, Nov. 22 East Palo Alto City Council meeting. The study recommends against installing stop signs, citing a Caltrans guideline that five collisions per year are required to justify installing multi-way stop signs.

Residents have questioned the logic of following the Caltrans guidelines, saying they are intended for use on state highways, not school zones with high vehicle and pedestrian traffic volumes. Other California cities, including nearby Belmont, have adopted alternative guidelines for multi-way stop signs that better reflect conditions on local roadways.

“How many more people have to die before the city is held accountable?” resident Cristina Pulido asked at the Oct. 4 City Council meeting.

She cited a UC Berkeley study that found the intersection to be the most dangerous in the city for pedestrians, and the city itself to be the 3rd most dangerous for pedestrians out of 97 small cities studied by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

What do you think? Should stop signs be installed?