Calaveras County unveils District 5 safety plan, cites speeding, intersections and lighting as top concerns

Calaveras County on Tuesday held the first District 5 community meeting for a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, presenting a five-year collision analysis and seeking public input on high-injury corridors and proposed countermeasures.

The plan, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program, aims "to eliminate all traffic related fatalities and serious injuries," project manager Rutha Charibala said. The county analyzed collisions on county-maintained roads from January 2020 through December 2024 and focused the plan on fatal and severe-injury collisions, commonly abbreviated in the presentation as KSI (killed or severe injuries).

County staff and the project team presented the data that will drive the plan. The county recorded 356 total injury collisions on county-maintained roads in the five-year period; 96 of those were fatal or severe. The analysis found that 71 percent of KSI collisions occurred on roadway segments rather than intersections, that weekends and the summer months (June–August) show higher collision counts, and that passenger cars and pickup trucks were the most frequently involved modes, followed by motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians. Top cited contributing violations were improper turning, unsafe speed and driving under the influence.

The plan identified a high-injury network of corridors. The three corridors highlighted with the most collisions were Littlejohn Road, Baldwin Street and Railroad Flat Road; the team said it will evaluate ten corridors in total for engineering countermeasures. For District 5 specifically, the team reported 53 collisions during the study period: 4 percent fatal, 30 percent severe, 41 percent visible-injury and 25 percent complaint-of-pain injuries. In District 5, lighting conditions at collision sites were split, with about half occurring in daylight and 44 percent occurring in dark conditions with no street lights.

Project staff said countermeasures could include location-specific and corridor-wide engineering projects, as well as countywide programs for education and enforcement. "This plan is not only looking into engineering solutions, but we are also going to look at the enforcement and education part of it," Charibala said. The project team will compile a roster of potential projects, prioritize them based on need and available funding, produce a draft plan and take that draft to the Board of Supervisors for adoption.

The county also demonstrated an online public input system and interactive map where residents can drop pins, upload photos and describe safety concerns. Melissa Estrada of GHD led the demonstration and said the webpage offers a survey, an interactive map and a sign-up form. "The information you provide is key for us identifying safety issues and locations so that meaningful safety countermeasures can be developed," Estrada said.

A resident, Patrick Roy of Rancho Calaveras (District 5), urged the county to emphasize enforcement and education over infrastructure in some parts of West County. "We need more law enforcement. We need more public education," Roy said, noting local concerns about speeding, DUI, illegal passing, unlicensed motorcycles and poor residential road surfaces caused by repeated utility digs. He said expanded shoulders and road improvements have in some cases increased average speeds on local roads.

Project staff acknowledged those concerns and said the Technical Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from the county planning department, the Board of Supervisors, the county school district, senior services, county fire, Office of Emergency Services, California Highway Patrol, City of Angels Camp, Caltrans District 10 and the Calaveras County Council of Governments, will consider enforcement and education strategies alongside engineering recommendations. Staff asked residents to submit location details through the web map for issues outside Caltrans right of way so the county can consider lighting or driveway-alignment fixes where it has jurisdiction.

Next steps announced by project staff include refining collision profiles, developing candidate countermeasures, prioritizing projects given funding constraints and returning with initial findings and proposed countermeasures at future public meetings. The team said a second round of in-person public meetings in winter will present potential countermeasures to the community.