‘When is it going to stop?’: Pedestrian death at Highway 12 intersection adds to road’s deadly history

When Boyes Hot Springs resident Gina Carrillo Pomeroy heard sirens Monday coming from the corner of Verano Avenue and Highway 12, she feared another pedestrian had become a victim of the intersection that took her father’s life.

Her fears were correct.

Julio Estrada, 36, was walking a dog in the crosswalk that spans Highway 12 when he was struck and killed by a pickup truck shortly after 8 p.m. Jan. 16, according to Jaret Paulson, Napa California Highway Patrol public information officer.

Alvaro Avalos, a 24-year-old Sonoma man, was driving a 2019 Toyota Tundra heading west on Verano Avenue before turning southbound on Highway 12 when for an “undetermined reason,” the truck and pedestrian crashed in the crosswalk, according to authorities.

Avalos immediately stopped, and remained at the scene while the Sonoma Valley Fire Department attended to Estrada, who was pronounced dead. The dog suffered minor injuries and was taken by Animal Control to be reunited with an owner.

Paulson said drugs and alcohol are not believed to be a factor in the crash at this time, and the driver was not speeding. Avalos was not arrested and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Monday’s fatal crash adds to the list of major crashes at the intersection of Verano and Highway 12, and elsewhere along Highway 12.

In November 2020, Pomeroy’s father, Raymond Carrillo, was struck and killed at Verano Avenue at Main Street. He was 78.

“When I hear sirens, and then they stop on Verano Avenue or close by, I anxiously walk to the accident praying that the outcome is not a fatality or serious injury,” Pomeroy said in an email.

James Pendergast, 85, was hit and killed by a work van while attempting to cross the north sidewalk of the Verano Avenue-Highway 12 intersection in March 2021, causing his hat and shoes to be “thrown clear of his body in the violent collision,” the Index-Tribune reported at the time.

A pair of 12-year-old girls were transported by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after an SUV hit them in a crosswalk of the same intersection. One of the youths sustained major injuries.

Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin said Estrada’s death at the intersection is “absolutely tragic,” and a meeting has been arranged next week with Caltrans, the operating authority of State Route 12.

“It really concerns me that Caltrans is not prioritizing this intersection for pedestrian improvements,” Gorin said. “This intersection is being challenging for us to get to Vision Zero (a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries).”

The Springs Municipal Advisory Council made an urgent request in March 2023 that “Caltrans initiates action at the earliest possible time, on the following request for pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular safety in the Springs. ... Caltrans personnel are aware of the death of two people and two girls in their early teens injured at that intersection. All of these occurrences were within less than a quarter mile...”

A 2017 Permit Sonoma analysis of collision data between 2011 and 2015 identified 11 fatalities in Sonoma Valley, three of which took place on Highway 12, making it the second deadliest road after Highway 121, which saw six deadly crashes.

“Collision rates along SR 12, Arnold Drive, Warm Springs Road, Madrone Road, SR 116, Watmaugh Road and Eighth Street East were all higher than the statewide basic average rate,” according to the analysis.

Gorin offered a number of suggestions to improve pedestrian safety at the corridor, including protected turn signals and adding buckets to hold reflective flags that would hypothetically create better visibility of pedestrians.

“Until Caltrans gets the fire under them to improve this intersection, I am absolutely doing anything I can to increase visibility and the margin of safety for pedestrians at this really important intersection of the Springs,” Gorin said.

Pomeroy watched first responders tend to the victim Monday night, unable to ignore the parallels of her father’s death, and other recent heartache on the troubled roadways.

“My daughter Emma and I do all we can to not fall apart every time. It brings my father Ray Carillo’s death to the forefront like it happened yesterday,” Pomeroy said.

She said she would contact the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration and the Vehicle Safety Hotline to bring attention to the notorious intersection.

“I would imagine that any calls I make won’t change anything. But at this time I am determined to do what I can whether or not I will be heard,” Pomeroy said. “How many fatalities and injuries need to happen before actions will be taken?”

Monday’s fatality also reignited outrage and questions about pedestrian deaths in Sonoma Valley among the public online.

“How many deaths Caltrans Bay Area-District 4 County of Sonoma Sonoma Sheriff must we see in this area before our leaders make better safe change!” Tricia Gm wrote in a Facebook comment.

“With the epidemic of trucks the size of army tanks these days, getting hit by one is like getting hit by a half-ton brick wall,” Steve Meloan commented.

“My mom was hit there a year and a half ago and is now disabled,” Diana Ziliotto said on Facebook. “When is it going to stop?”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.