PD Editorial: Sonoma’s ‘red flag’ intersection is overdue for a fix

After yet another person was struck by a car and killed — the third since 2020 — buckets containing reflective red flags were placed at a busy intersection in the Sonoma Valley.

Pedestrians are encouraged to wave the flags to motorists’ attention as they cross Highway 12 at Verano Avenue just beyond the Sonoma city limits.

Surely, state and county transportation officials can come up with better solutions.

Verano Avenue and Highway 12 frame edges of Maxwell Farms Regional Park, a popular gathering spot in the Sonoma Valley with playgrounds, baseball and soccer fields, tennis and volleyball courts, picnic tables, a skate park, nature trails and open space. Maxwell Farms also is home to the Boys and Girls Club of the Valley of the Moon. It’s a busy area for vehicles and pedestrians.

As our colleagues at the Sonoma Index-Tribune reported, a draft traffic and collision report released by the county in 2017 identified Highway 12 as one of the Sonoma Valley’s most dangerous roads. Between 2011 and 2015, there were 253 crashes, three of them fatal. Another 11 were described as “severe.” The only road in the Sonoma Valley with more traffic accidents was Highway 121, with 401 crashes and six fatalities.

For six years, the dangerous situation has festered.

The flags came out after Julio Estrada, 36, was struck and killed while walking his dog on Jan. 16. There were no drugs or alcohol involved, authorities said, and speed was not a factor — just a driver who seemingly failed to pay attention in a problematic intersection.

Three years ago, Raymond Carrillo, a beloved father and grandfather, was hit and killed while crossing the same intersection. His daughter, Gina Carrillo Pomeroy, lives and nearby, and now when she hears sirens, it sparks traumatic memories of her father’s death.

“My daughter, Emma, and I do all we can to not fall apart every time,” she told the Sonoma Index-Tribune. “It brings my father Ray Carrillo’s death to the forefront like it happened yesterday.”

The 2017 report also shows that traffic collisions peak in the summer months, when the Sonoma Valley tends to be bustling with visitors.

Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the valley, is scheduled to meet with Caltrans in early February to, ahem, wave a red flag about the dangerous situation on Highway 12. Traffic signals and flashing crosswalk lights have been used to make other problematic intersections safer. Why not here?

For now, the flags should make pedestrians more visible — but they cannot be anything more than a stopgap. And the data showing rising danger during the summer should stand as a deadline for improvements to make sure no one else is needlessly killed at this dangerous intersection.

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