A Fresno intersection is so dangerous, a YouTube channel shows its bad collisions
A roadway in an affluent area of Fresno has turned into a potential death trap.
And so much wreckage has been captured on video just from the past two years, a YouTube channel was created solely to showcase the dangers of traveling through that northeast Fresno intersection of Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue.
Like the name of the YouTube channel, the three-way intersection has been dubbed the Friant Roulette.
Think you can survive traveling through an intersection where drivers have been known to run through red lights?
At times, vehicles have been T-boned and people have suffered serious injuries.
A year ago, a young woman driving through the intersection was killed.
Fresno lawyer Warren Paboojian, who has represented numerous clients injured or killed near Friant and Shepherd, didn’t hold back when describing the deadly spot.
“That intersection is death row.”
Despite the growing concern for the intersection, there have been no quick-fix efforts or long-term solutions in place to solve the Friant Roulette problem.
And the City of Fresno currently does not have any redesign plans for the Friant-Shepherd intersection.
UPS truck collision
For at least 5 seconds, the light going north on Friant remains red.
A driver of a black SUV blazes through the intersection anyway.
What happened next resulted in approximately 600,000 views and counting on the Friant Roulette YouTube channel, as well as an all-too-close encounter on the actual road.
As the video from March 8 shows, a UPS truck enters the intersection to turn left from westbound Shepherd onto southbound Friant.
The red-light runner in the black SUV then swerves at the last second to avoid crashing straight into the driver’s side of the UPS truck.
However, the black SUV ends up getting T-boned on its passenger side by the UPS truck that was trying to abruptly break.
Meanwhile, a white vehicle that was turning alongside the UPS truck in a separate left-turning lane from Shepherd is somehow saved from destruction.
Dan Wells, a nearby resident who started the Friant Roulette YouTube channel out of growing concern for his neighborhood, said red-light runners at Friant and Shepherd have become rampant. He added that at least once a month, a major crash unfolds.
“It’s scary every time I drive home,” said Wells, who operates the popular YouTube channel with the help of his son.
“I worry about my family and friends taking those roads,” Wells added. “What has to happen for the people in power to take notice?”
Deadly encounter
Disasters on Friant Road have become well documented.
In April 2023, Wells captured video showing a tow truck running a stop light lit red for more than 10 seconds then T-boning a sedan that was making a left turn from Shepherd to go south on Friant.
Amaya Chenot, the 22-year-old driver in the sedan who was on her way to work that night, died.
Wells said the collision was so violent, it sounded like a train crash.
The deadly incident since has led to multiple court cases:
Chenot’s family, represented by Paboojian, is suing the tow truck company 1st Class Tow.
Tow truck driver John Ashcraft, who remains in Fresno County jail as he awaits trial, is facing felony charges for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and driving under the influence of drugs.
Both cases are pending.
“I don’t know what can be done,” Paboojian said. “Maybe flashing warning lights leading up to the intersection? I do know drivers are coming fast in both the north and south directions. People aren’t paying attention.
“The city is on notice that the intersection has become a danger.”
People have died at other nearby Friant intersections also.
Just Sunday night, a 20-year-old man was killed while driving a block south of the Friant Roulette intersection at Friant and Audubon. Fresno police said a vehicle ran a red light while driving south on Friant and ignited a five-car collision.
At that same intersection in January 2022, a cyclist was killed after getting hit by a truck.
And to the north of Friant Roulette, a 10-year-old boy was fatally struck in June 2021 at Friant and Fort Washington.
Confusion along Friant?
Wells said many of the crashes are caused by drivers heading north on Friant Road.
Specifically, vehicles traveling in the inner-right lane that has traffic continuing to go straight.
Northbound Friant Road, which has a speed limit of 50 mph, expands from three lanes to five lanes by the intersection.
There, the outer lanes become a left-turn-only and a right-turn-only.
Five lanes at the intersection, and a total of six stop lights facing that direction of traffic.
Yet one of the lanes does not have a stop light directly in front or above it.
Two of the traffic lights are dedicated for those making a left turn.
Another two lights help vehicles making a right turn onto Shepherd and prevent traffic from backing up.
There’s also a light for the inner-left lane that has traffic going straight, as well as a light for the middle lane, where traffic also goes straight in a northbound direction.
But that inner-right lane that also allows traffic to go straight does not have a stop light.
Wells said that it’s that inner-right lane where most drivers run a red light.
“That lane doesn’t have their own light, but the drivers might see that green arrow for the traffic to make a right turn,” Wells said. “They get mesmerized by the flow of traffic that’s making right turns.
“But then they don’t realize they’re about to run through a red light and hit another car.”
Intersection improvements?
What can be done? And are there any plans to improve safety in the area?
Wells said that on top of adding a light for the right lane, he would like to see a longer delay in traffic lights from the time one set of lights turns red and the set of perpendicular lights turns green.
Wells added that he’d also like to see yellow lights extend a bit longer as traffic lights transition from green to yellow to red.
Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, who represents the district, in an interview last year said the intersection’s stoplights aren’t the issue. He stressed that drivers need to pay more attention and stop with all the distracted driving.
Mayor Jerry Dyer, meanwhile, has considered making “no right turn on red” standard along a stretch of Friant.
Changes along Friant, however, remain in the works.
A redesign of the nearby Friant-Audubon intersection, where there is more pedestrian traffic and commercial businesses, is nearing completion.
Once the southbound right-turn-lane extension is done, the traffic lights will prohibit right turns on red lights, a city official said.
The city does not have redesigns at the moment for the Friant-Shepherd intersection.
Other danger zones
The Fresno Police Department said it does not keep a running log that tracks where traffic accidents have occurred continuously in the city.
But Fresno police were able to determine that a total of 42 collisions occurred at the Friant-Shepherd intersection from January 2020 to April 2024.
How does that intersection compare with other hazardous crossing streets in Fresno?
Based on data from 2020, the California Highway Patrol’s statewide integrated traffic records system suggested Palm and Ashlan is Fresno’s most dangerous intersection.
The Palm-Ashlan intersection had 25 crashes that year. By comparison, Friant Roulette had 14 crashes in 2020.
The data was posted on the Freedman Law website, which provides an interactive map that tracks intersections where collisions occurred.
Fresno car accident lawyer Singh Ahluwalia listed on his firm’s website 10 intersections considered to be Fresno’s most dangerous.
Topping the list was the intersection of Blackstone and Bullard avenues.
But it was unclear how the list was calculated.
Should fixing the problems at Friant and Shepherd be a priority over other Fresno intersections?
That’s hard for someone to objectively say.
Nonetheless, Wells continues to record with his cameras from his backyard, and post more and more videos of the Friant Roulette. He hopes it’ll increase awareness and safety when driving in his area.
And maybe that could somehow help save a person’s life.
“I just wish,” Wells said, “it wasn’t so dangerous trying to get home.”
