OCEANSIDE — Neighbors are concerned about unsafe pedestrian conditions along San Tomas Drive after a toddler was struck and killed along the roadway in August.
On Aug. 15, a 16-month-old child was fatally struck by a truck on San Tomas Drive near Rancho del Oro Road. While still under investigation, law enforcement has stated it does not believe speed or alcohol were factors in the incident, suggesting the child had managed to leave his home nearby before wandering into the road.
Neighbors mourned the loss of the child in a community where many other young children also live. According to ABC 10 News, some neighbors and advocates want drivers to be more mindful and to avoid distractions while on the road.
“Toddlers and school children are the most vulnerable because they are out and about, and now that schools open again, people really need to be focused,” Lorrie Lynn, injury prevention manager at Safe Kids San Diego, told ABC 10 News.
One concerned neighbor recently complained to the City Council that the road’s unsafe conditions stemmed from long-term parking violations and accused the city of not enforcing the laws of the road.
“Though the police report for this incident made it seem like this could not have been preventable… it absolutely was preventable,” said GT Wharton, a San Tomas Drive resident, at the Sept. 13 council meeting.
Wharton said he had submitted more than 25 complaints over the last four years about other neighbors leaving their cars parked on the public street for longer than the statewide 72-hour limit despite having enough driveway and garage spaces.
According to Wharton, leaving cars parked on the street causes a “very dangerous situation” by blocking pedestrians from the view of drivers.
“After these many complaints, traffic enforcement told me they would no longer enforce the long-term street parking violations,” Wharton said. “When asked why, I was told it was amounting to harassment because the same residents were the repeat offenders.”
Oceanside police and the city’s Parking Enforcement program can enforce the 72-hour parking limit. However, according to city staff, tickets are usually only issued following a request for service or complaint, and all submissions are reviewed and investigated.
Wharton wants to see speed bumps installed along San Tomas Drive, which he described as a “long straightaway” where drivers “drive as fast as they feel comfortable,” noting an incident right after the toddler’s death in which a teenaged driver was speeding and crashed into two cars on the same street.
Per Wharton, city staff told him that San Tomas Drive is not on the list of the city’s backlog of roads needing traffic calming measures.
According to Public Works Manager Nathan Mertz and City Traffic Engineer Teala Cotter, the city has over 500 requests for traffic calming measures at various locations, including one related to San Tomas.
The city has approved requirements for installing traffic calming devices on residential streets, requiring street segments to be a quarter of a mile or longer without a stop sign or signal controls. San Tomas does not meet this requirement. However, staff recently reevaluated this location and ordered speed and volume data for the combined streets of San Tomas and San Helena.
The streets must have a posted speed of 25 miles per hour, an average assumed speed of 32 or higher, and a volume of at least 1,000 vehicles per day. If these requirements are met, the city can move forward with installing speed bumps – as long as 75% of the residents on those streets sign a petition in support.
According to staff, the city has received only one request for service this year regarding the 72-hour rule on San Tomas Drive on Sept. 13, the same day Wharton presented to the City Council. The city checked the vehicle on Sept. 14 and followed up on Sept. 17, finding the vehicle had moved to private property.
“There have been zero complaints or requests for service regarding any other parking items in the past year on San Tomas,” a statement from Mertz and Cotter read.
But Wharton claims city officials told him to stop calling in parking violations.
“There have been zero complaints or requests for service regarding any other parking items in the past year on San Tomas because Oceanside city officials called me on the phone two years ago and requested that I refrain from submitting any more 72 hour parking violations on this road as it amounted to harassment since the same residents were repeat offenders,” Wharton said. “The city’s comment is disingenuous and weasels out of responsibility for a problem they created in the first place.”
The city previously painted red curbs near ADA-accessible ramps on sidewalks along San Tomas, San Helena and Vista del Oro Drives in 2020 to improve pedestrian visibility for drivers.
The city’s neighborhood traffic calming program is supported by Measure X funding, with $300,000 invested in 2022 and $250,000 for the three following years. At the same Sept. 13 meeting, the City Council approved a revised spending plan for Year 5 that allocated an additional $200,000 for the traffic calming program, focusing on schools and parks.
UPDATED: This article has been updated to include an additional response from San Tomas Drive resident GT Wharton.
