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

Tuesday, February 27, 2018
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.
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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.
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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.
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