Fatal car crashes unite families at Sacramento rally. ‘They are violent deaths’
Close to 100 people — most of them mourning a loved one who was killed in a California car crash — gathered Sunday evening on the west steps of the Capitol to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and to call for a stronger response to fatal crashes.
Addressing the crowd, Allison Lyman began to cry as soon as she said the words “my son.” She explained that her oldest child, Connor Lopez, 23, died after a vehicle turned left into the path of his motorcycle as he headed home from an Elk Grove gym April 23. Standing behind a display of miniature traffic cones that held photos of nine victims illuminated by tiny lights, Lyman spoke about Lopez, a piano teacher who used to stage nighttime “Nerf wars” with his young siblings.
Because Lopez died at the scene of the crash, she wasn’t able to say goodbye to her son. However, Lyman said the family saw his body at the hospital, with his devastating injuries that would lead only to a misdemeanor case.
“They call these crimes nonviolent.” She paused.
“They are violent deaths.”
Weak response follows fatal crashes
Sunday’s vigil was organized by Erika Pringle, whose younger brother, Andrew Pringle, was fatally struck in Rosemont on April 23, 2023, exactly two years before Lopez was killed. The driver who ran a red light and killed Andrew Pringle was charged with a misdemeanor sentenced to probation.
Except in hit-and-runs and cases that meet the high bar for “gross negligence,” California drivers who kill people seldom face charges, let alone serious ones. Lyman said a prosecutor informed her that the driver who made an illegal turn and killed Lopez could be eligible for diversion and a cleared criminal record.
That is part of a broader pattern of weak responses to traffic deaths in California. Although the vast majority of fatal crashes are preventable with changes to infrastructure, local governments often take little or no action to fix dangerous roads swiftly after a serious collision. After Andrew Pringle died, Sacramento County removed four trees and installed high-visibility yellow backing on the signals at the intersection, but made no infrastructure changes that would force traffic to slow down.
Both Lopez and Andrew Pringle were fatally struck on wide, dangerous roads where drivers are legally permitted to travel at lethal speeds: 40 mph is the posted limit on both thoroughfares. Lopez died near the WinCo on Sheldon Road, which has six standard lanes and a center turn lane. Andrew Pringle was fatally struck outside a Regional Transit light rail station by a red light-runner while riding his skateboard across the second of six lanes of Folsom Boulevard, just east of Watt Avenue.
Robust evidence shows that the more people take transit, the safer the roads are for everyone on them, including drivers. By contrast, the more people drive, the more dangerous the roads are for everyone on them.
Thousands united in grief
Erika Pringle now volunteers with Victim Advocate Angels to support families navigating the criminal justice system; she rallied the families together to call for harsher penalties for drivers who kill people. They were forging a kind of community together, as one of the speakers, Michelle Silva, said. Data show that about 4,000 Californians die each year in vehicle collisions.
Michelle Silva, whose husband, José Luis Silva, was killed while riding a motorcycle in midtown last year, also spoke at the rally. Her husband was a former Marine and an adoring grandfather to his first grandchild, Ofelia. Michelle Silva is still reeling from the shock of his loss more than a year later. Because most of the people present at the rally had themselves suddenly lost a loved one in a car crash, she said she felt a certain comfort.
“Not that I am happy to see all your faces, but I am happy to see all of your faces, because it does make me feel like I’m not alone,” she said. José Luis Silva, she said, “was my everything. And I know each of you has lost your everything as well.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM.
