A rally is planned for Saturday outside Aragon High School after two students were struck in separate collisions near the campus within weeks. The latest, on Nov. 3, left San Mateo teenager Noah Perfettini with a broken arm after a truck hit him as he crossed Alameda de las Pulgas at Hobart Avenue on his way to school. His mother and a local advocacy group are calling for faster, more lasting safety improvements.
The San Mateo Daily Journal reported the collision happened around 7:15 p.m.; Hoodline placed it at about 7:20 p.m. that Tuesday. Perfettini fractured his humerus and, after taking time off, has returned to school, the Daily Journal reported.
Juliette Perfettini told the Daily Journal that two students being struck within seven weeks underscored the need for safety improvements. She said she wants the city to act before a student dies or someone is more seriously hurt.
A Second Collision in Weeks Near the Same School
The Daily Journal reported that the earlier collision happened Sept. 14 near Aragon Boulevard, when a driver making a left turn struck a student in a crosswalk. The Aragon Outlook also reported the incident as occurring Sept. 14, identifying the driver as an Aragon student and the person struck as an Aragon sophomore at Alameda de las Pulgas and Aragon Boulevard. A petition update posted to Change.org likewise gives the date as Sept. 14, 2026, and says the student was hit while legally using the crosswalk at 3:55 p.m.
Aragon families and Move San Mateo have asked the city to improve safety at the collision sites, the Daily Journal reported. Mike Swire, co-lead of Move San Mateo, said the city’s quick-build changes are welcome but do not go far enough, arguing that the road was designed for speed. Swire and Juliette Perfettini want rectangular rapid flashing beacons at crosswalks to alert drivers to people crossing.
What the City Has Already Built
As of October, San Mateo had completed quick-build safety improvements at four intersections along Alameda de las Pulgas, including Aragon Boulevard and Hobart Avenue, according to the City of San Mateo. At the Hobart Avenue site, the Daily Journal's seed facts describe curbs painted red near the crosswalk, new crosswalk signs, and new road markings reminding drivers to yield to pedestrians. The same measures were also detailed by Hoodline, which listed a new red curb restricting parking alongside the crossing signs and yield markings.
A separate, more involved project at Alameda de las Pulgas and Hobart is estimated for completion in fall 2027, per the city's transportation safety page, and would relocate the crosswalk roughly 30 feet north while adding curb ramps and rapid-flashing beacons. The city has said it is allocating more than $40 million toward pedestrian and bike safety projects overall. It's unclear whether that fall 2027 timeline has shifted since it was published.
How planned work fits broader safety efforts
The planned Hobart project would differ from the quick-build changes already installed: the city’s design calls for moving the crosswalk about 30 feet north and adding curb ramps and rapid-flashing beacons, rather than relying on red curbs, signs and yield markings. The city says transportation projects are programmed through its annual five-year Capital Improvement Program in accordance with available resources. The City of San Mateo says its Safe Routes to School program works with school districts, schools, police, parents and community groups to support safer school travel. A separate collision elsewhere in the city involved a family, not an Aragon student: KTVU reported that Ramon Sandoval and his two children were struck while crossing at State and North Delaware streets on March 28, 2026.
Speed Limits and a Patchwork of Fixes
The City Council introduced an ordinance on Sept. 22 establishing enforceable speed limits on roadway segments where recommended speeds stayed the same or were reduced, while deferring action on segments where speeds were recommended to increase, according to the city. A petition update dated Sept. 20 said the city was separately proposing speed-limit increases in 19 areas, including a 5 mph bump on Alameda de las Pulgas adjacent to Aragon High and Baywood Elementary schools.
More than 200 letters were sent to the City Council ahead of a meeting on the issue, with parents and residents requesting school-area safety measures, Hoodline previously reported. The Aragon Outlook has also noted pedestrian fatalities at two other San Mateo intersections, a January collision at 17th Avenue and El Camino Real and a 2025 collision on Fashion Island Boulevard, as part of the broader safety debate playing out across the city.
Advocates Push for Bigger Changes
Swire and other advocates argue that long-term fixes should prioritize a road diet, either reducing travel lanes or adding more stop points along Alameda de las Pulgas, per the Daily Journal. Swire said addressing pedestrian safety on the main road and near the high school would ultimately ease traffic concerns for drivers too, arguing that without safe routes for teenagers to walk to school, congestion will never truly be resolved. He said safe routes for kids who walk and bike would mean far less traffic overall.
San Mateo City Councilmember Lisa Diaz Nash, whose district includes Aragon High School, did not respond to a request for comment before the Daily Journal’s story published. The rally is set for Saturday at 4 p.m., rain or shine, at Aragon Boulevard and Alameda de las Pulgas outside the school. Organizers say it will draw attention to the two nearby student collisions.
The push for crosswalk upgrades near Aragon High is not new to the neighborhood. A 2017 Daily Journal report described a 14-year-old boy struck by an SUV while crossing a street on his way to the same school, a reminder that concerns about student safety along these corridors have surfaced for years.
