Santa Cruz County is one of the most dangerous counties for pedestrians statewide, according to one of the five new reports from the 2025-2026 Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury.
“While the county and its cities have adopted modern transportation policies and safety frameworks, pedestrian safety outcomes remain poor relative to other California counties,” reads the report.
According to the report, the county ranks in the top 20% worst performing California counties for the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured (KSI) in traffic collisions.
“Personally, it’d be nice to see less of a car-centric approach when it comes to designing, thruways and streets,” said Adi Biacs, a 25-year-old bike mechanic.
Biacs personally has been hit by a car while biking up along West Cliff, when the car turned left into one of the parking spots along the beach side of the road—”drivers and cars are just like not really paying attention, even to the people walking around,” said Biacs.
This pedestrian safety report identifies a lack of sidewalk and crosswalk maintenance, and the prioritization of speeding enforcement over driving under the influence, as among the main concerns and causes of dangerous pedestrian conditions.
According to this report, the Jury investigated the cities of Watsonville and Santa Cruz, and the unincorporated areas—which have a persistently high number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured—and have communicated a goal of implementing a Vision Zero strategy—a multidisciplinary approach to traffic fatalities and severe injuries.
The Jury statement reports that since the county and cities of Watsonville and Santa Cruz have yet to implement a Vision Zero strategy, it has “possibly resulted in more pedestrian deaths and serious injuries than would have otherwise occurred.”
One of the final recommendations of the report instructs the County Board of Supervisors and the city councils to develop and publish Vision Zero Action Plans by June 1, 2027.
The County Board of Supervisors and city councils of Watsonville and Santa Cruz have been given 90 days to respond to the Jury report.
By Gwyneth Holcomb
