Signage makes clear there are issues with traffic and pedestrian safety outside Malcolm X Elementary School on Ashby. Photos: Tracey Taylor. Perhaps it’s because this particular school is located on a state highway, or perhaps it’s because one of its six-year-old students was run over on a crosswalk next to the school three years ago. […]
Traffic safety
Posted inCrime & Safety
Out of control car causes wrecks, injuries on Solano
Albany fire department uses jaws of life to extricate the driver of a Honda Civic badly damaged in the accident. Photo: Jane Tierney. A seemingly out-of-control BMW careened careered down Solano Avenue Sunday morning, sending at least two people to hospital and damaging seven other cars. Shahram Farshchi, the driver of the car, told Albany […]
Posted inCrime & Safety, Schools
Private bus in accident outside Cal after brake failure
UC Berkeley police on the scene of a crashed private bus on Piedmont Avenue last night. At about 9.15 p.m. on Thursday night, an empty Bauer’s bus which had been left by its driver parked on Piedmont Avenue across the street from UC Berkeley, rolled across the street’s two lanes and down an embankment coming […]
Posted inCity, Crime & Safety
Berkeley dangerous city for cyclists and pedestrians
Cycling in Berkeley is considered hazardous. Photo: Artbandito/Flickr Creative Commons. Berkeley is considered the most dangerous city of its size for pedestrians and cyclists, according to the city’s health department which, along with its police force, has received funds worth a total of $434,000 to address road safety. The health department ranked Berkeley number 1 […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Berkeley ‘street’ named for young boy killed by car
Berkeleyside has been following the evolution of the stop sign at the corner of Derby and Warring, where 5-year-old Zachary Michael Cruz was killed Feb. 27, 2009, while crossing the street. It was a terrible tragedy, one that continues to play out at the stop sign that has become a defacto memorial. In the year […]
Posted inArts, Community, Crime & Safety
Memorial to 5-year-old revived
After the one-year anniversary of the death of five-year old Zachary Michael Cruz, who was hit by a car while crossing Warring Street at Derby in February 2009, the impromptu memorial to him went moribund. During the year leading up to the anniversary, family members and friends had been placing bouquets, balloons, toys, and photos […]
Posted inCrime & Safety, Schools
Youths driving at 100 mph right before crash
Prentice Gray and his family Richmond police said today that the two Berkeley teenagers who were killed in an automobile accident last week were driving at speeds of 100 miles per hour right before the crash. Witnesses reported that the car “was driving erratically, weaving in and out of traffic,” said Richmond Police Sgt. Bisa […]
Posted inCrime & Safety, Schools
Comment: Emerson students at risk from traffic
In the month when the Berkeley Police Department is focusing on pedestrian safety, reader Anne Whyte has written an open letter to Berkeley City Council Member Gordon Wozniak about what she believes is a “perfect storm” of danger for the students at Emerson Elementary School (shown as “A” on the map above), arising from heavy traffic […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Police focus on pedestrians
Stop sign near where Zacharay Cruz was killed Just a few days after the one-year anniversary of the death of 5-year-old Zachary Michael Cruz, the Berkeley Police Department have announced a concentration on pedestrian safety this month. Last year, 106 pedestrians were injured in collisions in Berkeley. All three of the city’s fatal collisions involved […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime & Safety
Berkeley intersection memorial to a life cut short
Saturday February 27 marked the year anniversary of the death of 5-year old Zachary Michael Cruz. His family and friends have kept the stop sign at Warring and Derby — the site of his death — continuously decorated. This weekend pots of yellow tulips and other spring flowers surrounded a picture of Zachary. Three sheets […]