Family demands safer driving on anniversary of boy's death in Berkeley crosswalk

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Family members of Zachary Cruz demanded safer driving this morning at the corner where he was killed nine years ago Tuesday.

Zachary was 5 years old when he was hit and killed in the crosswalk at Warring and Derby in Berkeley.

The driver was not charged- it was ruled an accident.

His father says getting out of bed on the anniversary of his son's death is very difficult every year but having a purpose this year helped. He and his family decided to turn into demonstrators this year- and they now think they will do this every year.

They held signs with Zachary's picture and the slogan "Drive like your son died here." Their activism isn't ending on the street corner. They also launched a website Oursdid.org to bring awareness to safe driving. They planned to approach the city council about adopting Vision Zero, a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities.

Berkeley police are also marking the anniversary. In his honor, the traffic enforcement division assigned officers to patrol the intersection Tuesday from 7 a.m. until noon. They have pulled over a number of drivers for rolling through the stop sign instead of coming to a complete stop. Berkeley police say they average one injury accident every day.