MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis could be on track for record breaking traffic violence. Over the past week, accidents on Union Avenue left several victims in critical condition.
The Memphis Medical District Collaborative said just last year, 83 pedestrians lost their lives because of drivers in Memphis. As of Thursday, the Memphis Police Department said there have been 21 pedestrian related deaths. It is a statistic many Memphians are sick of seeing, many of them wanting change.
“We almost had a guy over here couple of days ago that almost got hit by a car crossing the street,” said Michael Cox, the manager at the Meineke Car Care Center at Union and Lauderdale.
Cox says traffic violations at the intersection are nothing new. Less than a day before, a driver hit a man right next to a business. Cox says these kinds of accidents generally happen when the temperatures are warmer.
“When we start seeing a big rash of erratic driving around here, what we end up noticing is it’s when the weather breaks,” said Cox.
This is the time of year his auto-repair shop tries to get customers and their cars out of the parking lot and into a safe environment more quickly.
“I think until the city actually does more to try and get the budget back up and put more police officers on the street, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem that’s solved easily,” said Cox.
The Memphis Medical District Collaborative calls these recent traffic deaths an epidemic.
“These deaths are preventable,” said Sydney Sepulveda, Memphis Medical District Program Manager.
To curb the death toll, the collaborative has been changing roads within the district. Artful crosswalks have been installed to make drivers more aware, while planters are being used to create a buffer between drivers and pedestrians.
“They’re not speeding around the curb very quickly, it requires you to slow down your turn,” said Sepulveda,
The organization is currently in the fourth phase of the streetscape project. It hopes to finalize a design for three new locations in the area, including Cleveland and Madison and Madison and Montgomery.
“That is in partnership with the City of Memphis under the Accelerate Memphis Portfolio,” said Sepulveda, “Hopefully by the end of this year that will be finished, if not early next year.”
The city of Memphis is also putting efforts forward to fight this issue. Recently it received a $600,000 grant to identify critical crash locations. In an email to ABC24, the city said the project has not been initiated yet.
They went on to say the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization is working on a regional safety action plan. Memphis MPO wrapped the public review and comment section of it last week.