For more than a year, Shannon Smith asked the city of San Diego to improve safety along a stretch of Jackson Drive where pedestrians frequently cross.
Smith, who walked his dog across the busy four-lane road in the Lake Murray area of San Carlos twice a day for a decade, worried the traffic was too dangerous for those trying to cross the uncontrolled intersection at Lake Badin Avenue. So he suggested a number of improvements, from lowering the speed limit to painting a crosswalk on the road to installing stop signs or a traffic signal.
Nothing changed at the site.
On Thursday — three days after a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed while walking to school — a city spokesperson said a four-way stop would be installed at the intersection by next Friday.
A city of San Diego sign notifying residents that stop signs will be installed at the intersection of Jackson Drive and Lake Badin Avenue was placed on a nearby sidewalk Thursday morning. (Shannon Smith)
On Monday, sixth-grader Andrew Olsen was killed while crossing the street on his way to Pershing Middle School. Two of his siblings walking with him were also injured. The driver stopped after the crash.
San Diego police investigators have said DUI and speed weren’t factors in the crash. Other drivers say morning glare can be a problem when heading east this time of year.
Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood for a dozen years, launched his campaign to improve safety along the street after crossing Jackson thousands of times with his dog, Lucy. The pair made twice-daily walks to the San Carlos Recreation Center park, a few blocks north of his home.
During the morning and afternoon rush hours, traffic can be heavy and quick, with cars coming in bunches after nearby traffic lights turn green. The posted speed on Jackson in the area is 40 mph.
“You get these waves of traffic,” he said, which makes it difficult for pedestrians to cross at Lake Badin.
Not knowing who to approach, Smith started reaching out to city staffers, including engineers, in spring 2024, suggesting maybe lowering speed limits or studying other traffic-calming measures. He contacted Councilmember Raul Campillo’s office and others, including city planners and members of the Navajo Planning Group.
He also submitted a couple of requests through the city’s Get it Done app — which were closed without any changes being made.
At one point, Smith saw a girl carrying a backpack, maybe 12 or 13 years old, who got briefly stuck on a raised median in the middle of the street with traffic whizzing by. He included that detail in one of his appeals to the city.
City spokesperson Anthony Santacroce said the city evaluated the intersection for an all-way stop in March 2024 in response to public requests and found it did not meet council policy criteria, which is based on a point system. Among the factors considered are crash history, proximity to schools, libraries, fire stations and parks, as well as pedestrian volume and vehicle traffic during peak hours.
To qualify for an all-way stop, a major road like Jackson Drive is required to score at least 25 points. The intersection scored 10 points.
The intersection was also evaluated for a crosswalk in November 2024, Santacroce said, and it did not meet the required criteria.
“In reviewing over 10 years of data, there has never been a fatal or severe injury crash at this intersection, and it has never been on the City’s High Crash Location list,” Santacroce said in an email to the Union-Tribune. He said none of the crashes at the intersection in the past decade have involved pedestrians.
City policy offers alternative paths for stop signs to be installed, even those that don’t meet the criteria. In a post on NextDoor on Tuesday, Campillo said he was calling on the city to install stop signs while longer-term safety improvements are also pursued.
For his part, Smith said he persisted in seeking changes because he was reminded of the road problems daily as he walked Lucy across the street — and because of his background. “I am a senior chief at heart, and senior chiefs fix problems,” said Smith, who retired from the Navy as a senior chief petty officer in 2013.
Smith was at home and heard the impact when Andrew was hit by the car. By the time he got to his front yard, someone was performing CPR on the boy. He felt heartbroken that his efforts had failed — and that a child died.
He sees the coming change as a “win for our community,” but remains frustrated it took so long.
“Obviously, it’s a week too late,” he said. “There will be other kids crossing there, so it’s a win for all those kids.”