A male pedestrian died after a vehicle struck him in the early morning in an area known as a “hotspot” for accidents in North Park.
According to the San Diego Police Department, the pedestrian, 70, was standing on the south sidewalk of 3000 El Cajon Boulevard around 5:30 a.m. Monday before he stepped away from the curb and into the street.
At the same time, a 66-year-old male driving a 2006 Mercedes E350 and traveling eastbound on El Cajon struck the man. Doctors pronounced the pedestrian dead at a local hospital, according to the police report.
It is unclear why the pedestrian left the sidewalk. Police traffic units responded to the incident and are handling the investigation.
Numerous crashes
This crash is not an isolated incident along El Cajon Boulevard. According to Aria Grossman, policy manager for Circulate Planning & Policy, three intersections along El Cajon Boulevard made their 2025 Fatal 15 list of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians and cyclists in the city of San Diego.
Between 2015 and 2025, there were 18 crashes that resulted in serious injury or death to pedestrians and cyclists alongside El Cajon, according to data provided by Grossman.
Holden Leslie-Bole, chair of North Park’s Public Facilities and Transportation subcommittee, also said El Cajon had, by far, the most pedestrian-vehicle conflicts out of anywhere else in North Park.
“This is the hotspot that we’ve seen a lot of other crashes happen at,” Leslie-Bole said. “We’ve been pushing for traffic calming across all El Cajon Boulevard as well as safer intersection controls, and we’re definitely going to try to work more on improving this intersection because it’s not the first time that people have gotten hurt right around 30th and El Cajon.”
Leslie-Bole said the subcommittee has recommended solutions to the city in the past and has seen good results from stop signs and crosswalk installations. He said community groups are still pushing for improvements along El Cajon.
“I think we’re all kind of hoping that we can work with the city to get action before more people are hurt. … This needs to be a corridor-level approach because the problems at one intersection are pretty similar to the problems of another intersection, and overall we just need slower vehicle speeds across all of El Cajon Boulevard.”
