Which cars killed people in Sacramento in 2024? Police say mostly SUVs and trucks
At least 15 of 30 deadly crashes on Sacramento city streets in 2024 involved an SUV or a pickup truck, documents released by the Sacramento Police Department say.
Police responding to the 30 fatal collisions made six arrests.
In response to a Public Records Act request, the Police Department released the dispatch notes related to 30 fatal crashes that occurred in 2024. In all but two cases — a single-vehicle crash as well as the hit-and-run that killed motorcyclist Marvin Moran, 22, on Eighth and N streets Feb. 25 — police identified vehicles that collided with the victims.
In the documents, police said that 10 of the deadly crashes involved an SUV and five involved a pickup truck. Another eight involved sedans. The remaining five vehicles identified in the documents included two compact cars that struck other motorists, a freight truck, a tow truck and a Regional Transit bus. In a three-car collision, a minivan as well as an SUV were involved; the driver of the sedan in the crash, David D. Taylor, died.
The number of large vehicles represented in the documents falls in line with research: Bigger cars are more dangerous to the people around them.
The Institute for Highway Safety found in 2023 that, compared to vehicles with a hood height no more than 30 inches, vehicles with a hood height greater than 40 inches were 45% more likely to kill a pedestrian in a crash. Research released this month by the institute found that taller vehicles are more dangerous in pedestrian crashes, even when they’re traveling at slow speeds. In its report, the institute said that the “findings suggest that the 25 mph speed limit commonly used in residential neighborhoods in the U.S. may be too high for bustling city centers or other areas with large numbers of pedestrians.”
The World Health Organization and the United Nations agree. They have jointly endorsed 20 mph as the “maximum speed limit” for urban centers. Zoleka Mandela, a participant in the talks that led to that 20 mph benchmark, said anything faster “is a death sentence.”
Sacramento leaders set a “Vision Zero” goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2027. With only two years left to meet that goal, the death toll has shown no signs of falling. The City Council has been under pressure to act, and Councilmember Caity Maple has proposed a state of emergency declaration over cyclist and pedestrian safety.
Advocates were hoping that an emergency declaration could lead to change but begged the council to follow through on the intention. Isaac Gonzalez, the founder of Slow Down Sacramento and a member of the city’s Active Transportation Commission, urged the council to support a “quick-build” program that could force drivers to reduce their speeds.
Who has died in Sacramento car crashes?
In Sacramento, most of the people who were killed — 18 of 30 in the dispatch records — were pedestrians or cyclists: Mattie Nicholson, 56; Kate Johnston, 55; Jeffrey Blain, 59; Aaron Ward, 40; Sam Dent, 41; Terry Lane, 55; David Rink, 51; James Lind, 54; Tyler Vandehei, 32; Larry Winters, 76; Sau Voong, 84; Johnnie A. Fite, 82; Robert Kohler Jr., 50; Edward J. Lopez, 61; Muhammad Saddique, 64; Azure Amonti Daniels, 48; Jordan Nicolas Rodriguez, 38; and Nelson Lee, 64. Another two — Geohaira “Geo” Sosa, 32, and Kaylee Xiong, 18 — were riding electric scooters.
Five people were killed while driving cars besides 60-year-old Taylor — Michael J. Kennedy, 40; Federico Zacarias Cambrano, 28; Martin Chavez, 41; Daniel Lee Jennings, 54; and Alfred Ramirez, 23. Four people — Moran; Daniel Morris, 38; José Luis Silva, 55; and Duane Ashby, 35 — were fatally struck while on their motorcycles.
A 32nd crash was outside the date range of the records request. A 53-year-old pedestrian, Lindie Kraushar, was killed Nov. 29 in South Natomas. She was hit on Northgate Boulevard north of Turnstone Drive.
Six of the 31 deaths included in the records were followed by a prompt arrest. Five of the arrests were of drivers who police say fled the scene. One driver who stayed on the scene was briefly treated at the hospital and then taken into custody — the man who police say struck Jennings’ vehicle while intoxicated.
The crash that killed cyclist Jose Valladolid Ramirez, 36, was not included in the records. After his death, police arrested the driver who allegedly hit him while under the influence of alcohol. Previously, a spokesperson for the department said the driver was in a 2011 Dodge Ram, a large pickup truck.
Valladolid’s wife, Mayra Miranda, has called for the city to make infrastructure changes to the road where her husband was killed. She wants to prevent such collisions from happening in the first place.
“I just want that road to get fixed,” she said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
