Neighbors who live on Harris Road and nearby streets say crashes here are far too common, and they’ve been asking Bakersfield city officials for help. Now with a recent crash taking the lives of three people, the community is asking again for change to take place.
“It is overwhelming because we feel like nothing is being done for us and we want to be heard,” said neighbor Evelyn Delgado. “As a community we want to be heard to stop violence, to stop accidents, to stop anything that can harm our children.”
Neighbor Evelyn Delgado says she’s seen multiple crashes take place at the intersection of Harris Road and Summer Springs Road, in front of Bill Williams Elementary School.
However, with the latest crash taking the lives of her neighbors, Omar Zacarias and Sylvia Reyes, she says she knew what she had to do: call on the community for signatures to help.
“With all the accidents that we’ve had so far in the past year it is overwhelming because we feel like nothing is being done for us,” said Delgado.
The city confirms that crashes are quite common along Harris Road, with 16 major crashes being recorded from April 2021 to April 2026, which includes 9 deaths.
Speaking with other neighbors, they say they’ve been asking for the cities help for years, recalling one accident that took the life of a 5 year old near that same intersection.
“I reached out to the school I reached out to three different principals, so everyone Is pointing fingers at everyone, someone says oh well state law doesn’t let us do this, so were at a point where we don’t know where to go,” said neighbor Charles Buckland.
Buckland says he brought up concerns in 2022, asking for things like speed bumps, traffic signals instead of stop signs, and lane reductions, but according to the city, those requests didn’t meet state guidelines or current roadway requirements.
We reached out to ward 6 council member Zach Bashirtash who says changes are now coming, starting with a traffic study.
"The traffic study will tell us the amount of flow that's going to that area, and it will tell us the rate of speed and that can help us adjust the speed limit if need be. It can help us adjust to put more stop signs, if there's enough traffic stop lights to be put it place there, to create some additional safety measures,” said Bashirtash.
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