Neighbors who live on Blossom Hill Road say speeding has gotten out of hand and both Los Gatos and San Jose need to work together to implement safety changes. Two people were killed on the road in the past three months. (Credit: GoogleMaps)
This year, car accidents killed two people less than a fifth of a mile apart on a problematic stretch of Blossom Hill Road that straddles the borders of Los Gatos and San Jose.
Neighbors have been wary of the road’s safety for decades, and say speeding has gotten out of control in recent years. Getting both cities to make changes has been a challenge, and neighbors are urging them to work together to solve the problem before dangerous driving takes another life.
“It’s really been a tragic winter here for our neighborhood, our community,” said Blake Thornberry, who has lived off Blossom Hill Road for eight years. “San Jose, Los Gatos, it doesn’t really matter — it’s literally a line across the street. We all live here and share parks and schools together; it shouldn’t make a difference where this imaginary line is drawn.”
The stretch in question runs from Camino del Cerro to Camden Avenue, and jurisdiction is split between Los Gatos and San Jose. While Los Gatos police responded to a January car accident that killed a 19-year-old, San Jose police responded to the March accident that killed a mother who was walking her dog with her daughter.
A group of more than 300 neighbors who live on the road have been communicating their concerns through an email chain, and have been advocating for safety improvements at both Los Gatos and San Jose council meetings.
”I think it makes the work required to get something done for what should be simple much more challenging when you have to go to two different city governments (about something) I think everybody in general agrees is dangerous and needs to be fixed,” Thornberry said.
Limin Cao, her 11-year-old daughter and their dog were hit in a crosswalk at Leigh Avenue and Blossom Hill Road by a car on March 26. Cao and the dog died in the accident, and the daughter survived. San Jose police arrested Silvia Solorio on felony vehicular manslaughter and hit and run last week.
Cao was the fourth pedestrian killed in San Jose this year, and as of Monday afternoon, her family raised more than $100,000 for funeral expenses through a GoFundMe.
Tyler Scheetz, 19, from Palo Alto was killed at Belgatos Lane and Blossom Hill Road in January in a two-car collision. Both Scheetz and Cao’s fatalities are still under investigation.
San Jose City Councilmember Pam Foley, who is the chair of the Vision Zero task force, said that following the latest accident, the city’s department of transportation is working with Los Gatos to “evaluate safety improvements” on Blossom Hill Road. It’s not yet clear what that collaboration will look like or produce.
The goal of Vision Zero is to reduce and eventually eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries.
“All traffic fatalities are tragedies and are preventable. This incident is a horrific reminder of the importance of making our streets safe for pedestrians, and another wake-up call to drivers to drive safely and responsibly,” Foley said in a statement.
Los Gatos Town Council added traffic safety to its 2023 list of strategic priorities after news of the January accident brought dozens of neighbors to advocate for changes at a town council meeting. That could influence future funding or initiatives, Los Gatos Mayor Maria Ristow said.
“I am absolutely devastated by these fatalities,” Ristow said. “I’m a mother, I’m an active transportation advocate and the mayor of the town where I don’t want to hear about anyone dying on our streets.
“If both cities want to work together, and we collaborate, we can make a real difference on some of our roadways,” she added. “We do not want to wait for fatalities to make life safer for people.”
The town has been working to make improvements along Blossom Hill Road, including the Highway 17 Bicycle and Pedestrian Overcrossing Project and safety improvements to the road between Camelia Terrace and Hillbrook Drive, a mile west of where the accidents took place.
Residents who live near the eastern stretch of the road near the Belwood neighborhood say they hope to see either infrastructure changes, like speed tables and repainted lanes, or increased police patrols in the area to deter speeding.
The speed limit on the road is 35 MPH, but resident Stephanie Cipresse said it feels “more like a freeway.”
Resident Quinton Markett said it feels like a Formula One track when the road splits into two lanes on Meadowbrook. “People floor it,” he said.
Jamie Butcher, who lives in the Belwood neighborhood and is the parent coordinator for traffic and safety at Noddin Elementary School in the Cambrian area of San Jose, said she’s been communicating with both Los Gatos and San Jose police to keep students safe as they walk to school.
When school campuses closed during the pandemic, they temporarily lost their crossing guards, who are hired by the police departments. Butcher advocated for the departments to hire new crossing guards last year, but the coverage is nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
“When is it going to be enough to have … some crossing guards so the hundreds of kids that are crossing every day going to Noddin, Union (elementary), Leigh (High School) have a little bit of safety?” Butcher said.
Ristow said traffic concerns are not exclusive to Blossom Hill Road, and residents have reached out to her and staff about several areas of concern in Los Gatos.
Police departments in both Los Gatos and San Jose are facing a shortage of officers. Los Gatos police had to impose mandatory overtime for active officers to keep staffing levels up, but Police Chief Jamie Field said the department has faced “significant impacts” from its persisting vacancies.
San Jose police said staffing is a “tremendous factor” in the department’s ability to respond to neighborhoods requesting more speed surveillance.
“Currently our traffic enforcement unit has 14 officers to patrol a city of over a million residents,” a San Jose police spokesperson said in an email. “Our agency will be providing more public education on the nature of distracted driving, and you will likely see a rise in enforcement efforts throughout the city.”
Originally published at Hannah Kanik