Nick Oyler wanted to make sure those who lost their lives in pedestrian accidents last year weren’t viewed simply as statistics.

For that reason, Oyler’s office plotted the record number of 2020 victims, 66, on a map.

“I am calling it a ‘map memorial’ because it shows all the locations, but it also gives the partial names and age of the victims,” said Oyler, the bikeway/pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis.

Jarrod W., 11, is the youngest on the map memorial, shared on bike/ped’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

Eddie M., 75; Blair C., 27; Bobby W., 55; Anterious Y., 39 and Lula N., 64, offer a sampling of other names on the map.

“I wanted to do it to raise awareness,” Oyler said. “We talk about these number of deaths a lot, and it is often just that - a number. So I think the more we can humanize these individuals and remind people that we’re talking about our relatives, our neighbors and our co-workers ... it will give more attention to the issue.”

Pedestrian deaths were up 60% in 2020 over the previous year in Memphis. Among the 66 fatalities in 2020, 64 were on foot and two people were killed on bicycles – Arnold Castro and Idlewild Presbyterian Church Pastor Steve Montgomery.

Steve Montgomery, beloved Idlewild Church pastor, dies from injuries in bike accident

Forty pedestrians died in 2019 on city streets. In 2018, 32 pedestrians were killed and the number in 2017 was 38. 

Nationwide, more than 6,500 pedestrians were killed on roadways in 2019, the most recent information available from a February 2020 report from the Governors Highway Safety Association. The 2019 number was the highest number of pedestrian fatalities in more than 30 years, the GHSA report stated.

“Speed and distraction”

Memphis Police Col. Keith Watson, head of the Memphis Police Department’s traffic division, said he was not surprised at the record number of pedestrian deaths last year. He said “speed and distraction” played a part in the increase.

“Those two factors alone do not allow drivers to have the reaction time to slow, stop or yield the right-of-way sometimes when they are reacting to a pedestrian also making a bad choice,” Watson said.

He also said the pandemic played a part in the uptick. With fewer people driving because of COVID-19 as many worked from home, the roads had less traffic and speeding was an issue.

“I would say that drivers took advantage during 2020 when there were less vehicles and motorists on the roadway,” Watson said. “Speeds increased from those decisions that the drivers made.”

COVID collateral: Less traffic may have led to more fatal accidents

He said streets that had high volume of pedestrian crashes and fatalities included:

• Poplar Avenue
• Jackson and Austin Peay
• Third Street
• Lamar Avenue
• Winchester and Shelby Drive

“Each one of those streets are large thoroughfares with a large residential neighborhood connected on either side of it,” Watson said. “We’ve seen speed and dangerous acts, especially as the weather warms up and people begin to come out after having cabin fever. We see a lot of bad driving habits and those bad driving habits oftentimes lead those motorists to those areas because everybody wants to be seen or see something.”

Add alcohol and drugs used to the equation, and it’s a recipe for trouble.

“You have to be mindful ... everyone is not coming from Sunday School on these streets,” he said.

While fatal pedestrian accidents increased last year, Watson said accidents with injuries went down. In 2020, 369 pedestrian accidents involved injuries compared to 419 injuries in 2019, a 13% decrease.

Oyler tempered that good news, however, with a decade’s worth of data showing accidents with serious injuries and deaths are occurring more often over the long term.

“If you look 10 years ago ... only 30% of (accidents) resulted in a major injury or a death,” he said.

“To me, that is really a disturbing trend. It is not that just the raw numbers are increasing, it is that the severity is increasing when these types of crashes occur,” he said. 

For the first three months of the year this year in Memphis, seven pedestrian deaths have occurred and 32 pedestrians have been injured.

“You have to be mindful ... everyone is not coming from Sunday School on these streets.”

Memphis Police Col. Keith Watson
 

Carey Sparks, a minister, was struck and killed by a car in the 4900 block of Millbranch in Whitehaven March 1. Sparks, 54, was pronounced dead on the scene.

Rodney Thompson, 26, was charged with driving on a suspended license, violation of financial law (no car insurance) and violation of vehicle registration.

Police said Thompson was driving a 2008 Pontiac G6 north on Millbranch near Wilson Road when he hit Sparks, according to a police affidavit.

Raising awareness and a pedestrian-friendly city

Oyler said later this year, the bikeway and pedestrian office is planning to roll out a communication campaign centered on pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

“It will predominately target drivers because I do believe that drivers, since they are the ones operating these two tons of fast-moving objects, they have a greater share of responsibility around safety,” Oyler said. “It will also be about trying to raise awareness about the issue but at the same time communicate good safety practices.”

He said one solution to the ongoing increase in pedestrian deaths is to improve streets.

“Our streets by and large are designed in a way that prioritizes the movement of cars and aren’t always safe environments for walking, and that is still a challenge that we still need to address and try to redesign our streets,” Oyler said.

Better lighting to improving sidewalks and streets would help. In fact, Oyler said a “handful” of construction projects this summer will include street improvements in areas where there have been safety issues in the past for pedestrians.

The locations include sidewalk and intersection improvements at:

• Ball Road (Perry Road to Manchester Road) and Manchester Road (Ball Road to Alcy Road)
• Streets around Dunbar Elementary School
• Range Line Road from Wellons Avenue to St. Elmo Avenue
• Range Line Road at Orman Avenue

“It is something. I would say, being honest, we are going to need a lot more of it, though,” he said about street improvements.

Watson, who has overseen MPD’s traffic unit for two years, said on the enforcement side officers urge pedestrians to use crosswalks and for drivers to be on alert and always watch for pedestrians.

“Those drivers, when they are behind the wheel, they need to understand that they have an increased responsibility not only for the vehicle they are operating but for the pedestrians that are on the roadway or on the sidewalks that they pass every day,” Watson said.