TURLOCK – The family of the Ceres teacher killed in a 2024 Turlock crash is clamoring for traffic signals at the Lander Avenue intersection in hopes of preventing another family from bearing the same loss.

It’s been nearly a year since the fatal two-vehicle collision that claimed the lives of Daniel, 44, and Jennifer Lourenco, 45, and their 16-year-old daughter Madelynn Lourenco. Less than two weeks later, Matthew Lourenco, 14, showed no brain activity and was removed from life support. The couple’s eldest daughter, Emma, 18, was critically injured but recovering. The collision also claimed the life of Uriel Guizar-Negrete, 22, of Modesto.

Jennifer Lourenco was a teacher at Sinclear Elementary School in Ceres. She taught moderate-severe special needs students, was named “Teacher of the Year” for the 2023-24 school year.

Elizabeth Severson, the sister of Daniel Lourenco, is advocating for a traffic light – something she believes would have spared for brother and family – at the south Turlock intersection where the collision happened.

At around 9:25 a.m. Dec. 15, 2024, the Lourencos — Daniel was driving the family’s 2023 Jeep — had stopped at the stop sign on Greenway Avenue at Lander Avenue, just south Highway 99. Greenway has posted stop signs but Lander does not.

Daniel Lourenco proceeded to cross Lander Avenue in the path of a speeding northbound 2008 Infiniti driven by Guizar-Negrete. According to the California Highway Patrol, the Infiniti struck the left side of the Jeep. Guizar-Negrete was not wearing a seat belt and ejected from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“After the accident, there was an investigation that was started with Caltrans on whether or not there should be a light put at Greenway and Lander,” said Severson. “Obviously, we were very busy right after the accident with multiple things, but things slowed down, so I followed up not too long ago, and checked in to see how the investigation was going or had gone, if there were any results. And I was told that the investigation was done and that there was not enough cause or reason to put a stoplight.”

Undeterred in her campaign to get a stoplight installed, Severson reached out to Assemblyman Juan Alanis who drafted a letter to Caltrans asking for reconsideration of the intersection.

“On December 15, 2024, the Lourenco family of five — including Emma, Daniel and Jennifer’s oldest child who miraculously survived — were struck by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. The driver of that vehicle also tragically lost his life in the incident,” Alanis wrote.

“On September 8 of last year, a vehicle was ‘split in half’ after a collision at this intersection with a commercial vehicle. Local media reported that the driver of the vehicle was found unconscious in the passenger seat after being struck on the driver’s side. On April 14 of this year, another severe accident occurred at this intersection, where one of the vehicles involved was overturned and landed on its roof. These are just a few of the most egregious examples of the chronic problem with collisions at this intersection among many others along this stretch of Highway 165 from Highway 99 to Bradbury Road. 

“Considering the volume of incidents, especially the number of major collisions, along with low nighttime visibility and frequent commercial traffic, the installation of a stoplight or other safety measures is essential to the safety of residents and others traveling through my district. It is my hope that Caltrans will take this matter seriously and find a solution to the growing concerns of these communities that I represent,” Alanis wrote.

The criteria for installing traffic signals are not based on the number of fatalities at an intersection, according to Caltrans public information officer Erin McQueary, but rather determined by the number of collisions susceptible to correction by a traffic signal within a 12-month period and traffic volume thresholds on the major and minor approaches.  

“While the severity of a collision is always a concern, it is influenced by several factors beyond intersection controls — such as vehicle speed,” said McQueary.

Based on the investigation, Caltrans recommended several enhancements, and most have already been implemented:

• In August, cross road symbols and advance street name plaques were installed on Lander Avenue.

• Enlarged STOP signs and “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” plaques were added on Greenway Avenue.

• Pavement markings to assist with the safe execution of left and right turns at the intersection will be installed in the near future.

Severson said she is not giving up on getting a traffic light at the intersection and encourages others to get their elected officials involved in asking Caltrans to reconsider the request.

“I think the fact that it claimed my brother, my sister, my niece and nephew and …my other niece is being raised alone, I don’t want any other family to have to endure what we’ve endured and what we are enduring. And no other family should have to worry about an accident on their way to church or leaving church, because the church is at the end of Greenway. And not only is the church there, but there’s also two soccer fields at the end of Greenway that brings in tons of young families in and out all week for practice, and then on the weekends for games, and there’s a 4-H farm on that road as well that brings in young kids. There’s a lot of added traffic on that road, and they shouldn’t have to worry about their safety coming to and from extracurriculars or church,” she said.