What I Saw on Sunset Avenue Should Concern All of Fair Oaks
After witnessing reckless drivers pass cars on the shoulder and run stop signs, I’m reminded why Fair Oaks residents need to show up, speak up, and support safer street improvements.
The other night, I was driving to the Fair Oaks Village when I came across something that happens fairly often in our community. A turkey was crossing Sunset Avenue. I slowed down and stopped to let it cross, and drivers coming from the opposite direction stopped as well. Nobody honked, nobody tried to rush around, and everyone simply waited while the turkey made its way safely to the other side.
If you live in Fair Oaks, that scene probably doesn’t sound unusual. Sometimes it’s a turkey, sometimes it’s a deer, and sometimes it’s a neighbor out for an evening walk. That’s part of living here. Sunset Avenue isn’t just a road. It’s the route people use to reach nearby neighborhoods, parks, schools, and friends’ homes, and it carries far more foot and bike traffic than its speed limits seem to account for.
My connection to Sunset Avenue goes back more than three decades. Thirty-six years ago, when I was pregnant with my son, my mother and I would walk that stretch together in the evenings. It was part exercise, part conversation, and part simply enjoying the neighborhood. I never thought twice about being on foot along that road. It wasn’t just a way to get somewhere by car. It was a place where people lived their lives, and that’s one of the reasons this issue matters to me today.
When I think about Sunset Avenue, I don’t just see pavement and traffic. I see decades of memories: dogs being walked, kids on bikes, strollers, families on their way to the park, neighbors crossing paths, and catching up. A community road should serve the people who live there, not just the drivers passing through.
That moment with the turkey stayed with me because just a short time later, while driving home from the Village, I witnessed something completely different. I was traveling down Sunset Avenue toward Hazel Avenue, driving the speed limit, with several vehicles ahead of me doing the same. As I drove, I noticed a vehicle behind me that was extremely close to my bumper, weaving back and forth as if looking for an opportunity to get around traffic. At first I wasn’t even sure what I was seeing. I kept checking my rearview mirror because the behavior seemed so aggressive compared to everyone else on the road.
As we approached a stop sign, I heard someone lay on their horn, not a quick tap but a long, continuous blast. Then the vehicle behind me moved onto the right side of the road, passed my vehicle, passed the vehicle in front of me, and went through the stop sign without stopping. A second vehicle immediately followed, horn blaring, passing cars on the right side, and running the same stop sign. The drivers weren’t simply speeding. They were using the shoulder of the road to pass multiple vehicles and bypass intersections entirely, and had another vehicle been entering the intersection at that moment, the outcome could have been very different.
What disturbed me most was that they continued the behavior at the next stop sign as well, passing additional vehicles and continuing toward Hazel Avenue. I wasn’t the only car on the road, and the drivers in front of me were also traveling at normal speeds. The problem wasn’t that traffic was moving too slowly. The problem was that two drivers had decided that everyone else on the road was in their way. By the time I reached the signal at Hazel Avenue, they were long gone, already through the intersection before anyone else arrived.
For the first time, I found myself wishing I had a dashcam so people could see what happened. I wanted to show what it looks like when a residential neighborhood road becomes a shortcut for impatient drivers, and to help people understand why residents have been expressing concerns about speeding and traffic safety on Sunset Avenue for so long. It made me wonder how many other people witnessed the same thing. There were multiple vehicles on the road that evening, and if you were one of them, I’d be interested in hearing your perspective.
What are we supposed to do when we witness behavior like this? What options do residents have when reckless driving becomes a recurring concern? More importantly, why do we seem to wait until someone gets seriously injured before taking known safety concerns seriously?
This isn’t a new conversation. Residents have been advocating for traffic-calming measures and safer roads for years. Some have attended meetings, circulated petitions, distributed yard signs, and worked to bring attention to the issue. One of the ideas frequently discussed is the use of traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps. Whenever I drive down California Avenue near the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, I notice how different the experience feels. Drivers naturally slow down because of the speed bumps, and people walk their dogs, access the park, visit the nature center, and move through the neighborhood without the same feeling that traffic is racing through the area.
Sunset Avenue serves a similar purpose in Fair Oaks. It connects neighborhoods, provides access to parks, and is used daily by residents moving through the community. Yet in some sections, particularly between Sunrise Avenue and Hazel Avenue, residents have expressed concerns about speeding and aggressive driving behavior. Would speed bumps solve every problem? Maybe not. But as I watched two vehicles pass multiple cars on the shoulder and run stop signs, I couldn’t help but think that traffic-calming measures might make this type of behavior much more difficult.
Most of all, I’m grateful nobody entered one of those intersections at the exact moment those drivers chose not to stop, because if the timing had been different, this article might be about a tragedy instead of a close call.
The turkey crossing Sunset Avenue earlier that evening reminded me of the kind of community Fair Oaks has always been. Neighbors looking out for one another. Drivers showing patience. People sharing the road. The question is whether we can preserve that sense of community while making sure Sunset Avenue remains safe for the people who live here.
That question is exactly what a group of local residents has been asking too. They call themselves Fair Oaks Community Traffic Calming Supporters, and they’ve spent the past several months turning that same question into action.
Their message is simple: our neighborhood roads were not designed to function like high-speed commuter corridors. Streets such as Sunset, Illinois, Kenneth, Winding, Phoenix, Chicago, and others carry daily life, not just traffic. People walk them, bike them, push strollers along them, and drive them to school, the park, or a neighbor’s house.
The group has been raising awareness about traffic-calming measures: safer walking conditions, improved striping, bike lanes, signage, and other practical ways to make Fair Oaks roads safer for everyone. Whether residents agree on every solution or not, the broader concern is one many of us share: Fair Oaks streets should feel like neighborhood streets, not shortcuts for impatient drivers.
The upcoming community open house matters for the same reason. Sacramento County Department of Transportation is working on opportunities to secure funding for Fair Oaks street improvements, and turnout can make a difference. When residents show up and share their experiences, it demonstrates that these concerns are real, ongoing, and shared by the people who actually live here. Follow https://www.fairoakscommunity.com/ to learn more.
It is easy to assume someone else will attend, someone else will speak up, or someone else will explain the problem. But safer streets do not happen because people complain quietly at home. They happen when neighbors organize and participate, and make clear that these are streets meant for living, not lanes meant for passing through.
