It’s been scorned.

It’s been panned as a waste of money.

And when it does its job, its blamed for causing the problem.

We’re talking about the pedestrian safety fence paired with medians down much of North Main Street between Northgate Street and Alameda Street.

It was installed last year as part of overall safety and pavement improvements.

The safety fence was installed primarily to stop pedestrians placing themselves at risk by crossing mid-block on the busy arterial that has been notorious for speeding, as well as pedestrian fatalities, and vehicle collisions.

Late Thursday morning, the wrought iron safety fence scored a save.

A speeding southbound motorist on Main Street lost control, went up onto the median and was stopped by the fence from slamming into vehicles waiting to make a left turn onto Northgate Drive across from the 7-Eleven.

It meant no injures to someone else who was following the law or damage to their vehicles.

Keyboard traffic accident investigators viewing uploaded video of the aftermath of a vehicle resting partially on the crumpled fence, immediately took to Facebook and other social media to blame the City of Manteca for the crash because they put the median and safety fence in place.

Forget the fact it saved innocent motorists from injury and vehicle damage.

Forget the fact a motorist lost control of the road vehicle, hit the medium, and then slammed into the fence.

The City of Manteca haters prowling the bowels of the Internet blame the accident all on the city’s actions to improve safety.

A little tidbit about North Main Street and how “law-abiding” motorists drive it.

In April of 2025 when the red light cameras at the intersection were still in the 30-day warning phase, Manteca Police received a video and supporting radar data from American Traffic Systems that installed and monitors the cameras that clocked a southbound motorist blowing a red light traveling at 84 mph in a 40 mph zone.

The culprit couldn’t be issued a red light ticket due to the state-mandated grace period for the $450 fine.

And if it they were caught speeding at 84 mph after the 30-day warning period ended, they wouldn’t have faced a speeding ticket that, given the excessive speed, likely would have meet the threshold of reckless driving. California hasn’t granted blanket authority to use such technology for nabbing speeders.

That said, they have allowed test areas for speed cameras in select cities such as Sacramento and Los Angeles to determine the effective of such systems to addressing speeding that is 11 mph plus above posted speed limits.

If that technology is authorized statewide by the California Legislature to address the speed epidemic in the Golden State and opted to be put in place by Manteca, rest assured the city will be blamed for encouraging speeding.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com