Yuba-Sutter agencies work together on safety action plan to address traffic deaths
Yuba and Sutter are among the California counties with the highest rates for fatal car accidents. Now, a safety action plan is making its way around the area for approval.
The goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2050. It started with an $800,000 federal grant to study, analyze and identify problem areas and address needs through a regional safety action plan.
"Any time governments are working together, it's a good thing," said Yuba City Mayor Marc Boomgaarden.
Yuba and Sutter counties, along with the cities of Yuba City, Marysville, Wheatland and Live Oak, are all collaborating on the regional safety action plan. By working together, they can better leverage grant funding for future projects.
"We've identified opportunities where we can combine projects, make them even more effective, and then present this as one unified comprehensive safety project for grant funding instead of competing against each other," said Daniel Peterson, former Yuba County public works director.
As part of one federal grant, a comprehensive study from 2018 to 2023 found that across the Yuba-Sutter region, there were 5,362 injury crashes. Of those, 886 resulted in death or severe injury.
"Way too high," said Peterson, "and when you look at the number of collisions that involve pedestrians and bicyclists, the percentage of those killed or injured really goes up dramatically. There's a definite need to take a look at systemic safety on our roadways."
The combined Yuba-Sutter roadway fatality rate is more than 60% higher than the national average. In 2023, the California Office of Traffic Safety ranked Sutter County ninth and Yuba County eighth for injury collisions out of the state's 58 counties, placing the region among the highest in the state for fatal and injury crashes.
"Unfortunately, Yuba City, Marysville, our main roads are Highway 20, Highway 99, and Highway 70. When you have a highway that's 65 mph outside of town and all of a sudden it comes to an urban area and slows down to 25, you're going to have problems," Peterson said.
The regional safety action plan identifies problem areas and offers potential solutions, including things like signaling, roundabouts and pedestrian and bike paths.
"We have a plan. We approved it at the last meeting. Our public works department, as well as the other ones around here, will all be using that data as they put grant funding applications in play," Mayor Boomgaarden said.
Yuba County and Yuba City have approved the plan. The other agencies will be voting over the next few weeks.
