Texas Officials To Launch Pedestrian Safety Campaign -

AUSTIN, TX — Local officials, area law enforcement, and community partners on Wednesday will join Texas Department of Transportation officials in launching the "Be Safe Be Seen" pedestrian safety campaign.

The initiative aims to address pedestrian fatalities and injuries along Interstate 35 and other areas of Austin, including construction zones. All told, there were 5,897 pedestrian fatalities throughout the U.S. last year, officials said. In Austin alone, there were 29 pedestrian deaths mostly occurring at night, added TxDot officials.

The "Be Safe Be Seen" campaign sheds light on the need for motorists and pedestrians alike to stay visible and obey traffic laws, according to TxDot officials. The initiative will be launched officially at TxDot Austin District Headquarters at 7901 N. I-35 at 10 a.m. at the Building 7 Hearing Room.

Not a month seemingly goes by in Austin without a report of a pedestrian death, with reports coming at a brisker pace of late. Recent incidents of pedestrian deaths include:

• Just this past weekend, on Nov. 24, a man in his 40s was struck and killed by a car at around 8 p.m. along West Slaughter Lane at Palace Parkway in South Austin, roughly a half-mile west of South 1st Street. The man was dead at the scene by the time emergency workers arrived. The same night, in nearby Buda, Texas, another man was struck and killed on the Texas 45 ramp to I-35 some two hours later.
• Four days before that on Nov. 20, a pedestrian was killed along the 5300 block of I-35 southbound in the northern part of Travis County. Police said a 2010 Jaguar was driving southbound on the highway when the pedestrian ran across the southbound lanes of the highway before being hit.
• The previous month in East Austin, Epifanio Jimenez-Garcia, 61, was crossing from east to west along the 100 block of Robert T. Martinez Jr. St. on Oct. 13 when he was struck by a vehicle. Police said Jimenez failed to look both ways to check for traffic before walking on the roadway. He was rushed to Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas, where he died of his injuries the following morning.
• Just two weeks later on Oct. 27, Jasper Bailey, 34, was killed after being struck by two vehicles as he stood in the middle of the road at night wearing all-black clothing. Police are unsure why Bailey was standing in traffic on Oct. 27 at 9 p.m. when he was struck along the 3400 block of South Lamar Boulevard.
• In September, Sterlin Adreon Milam, 38, was killed while standing in a North Austin roadway before being struck by a Dodge Ram traveling westbound along the outside lane of 6600 block of McNeil Drive about ten minutes before 6 a.m. The pedestrian died at the scene, while the motorist stopped to wait for police to arrive.
• In early August, Kenyae Monique Dixon, 25, was killed in North Austin after trying to cross along a portion of I-35. A police investigation found a car traveling northbound in the left lane of the 8300 block of North I-35 was traveling at a high rate of speed on Aug. 3 before striking Dixon. Dixon was pronounced dead at about 20 minutes before 10 p.m.
• In May, Bobby Joe Duke, 48, exited a bus that had come to a stop to pick up other passengers in the 2500 block of East Stassney Lane on April 27 when he ran in front of the bus across the roadway before being struck by a vehicle. The vehicle that struck Duke was traveling westbound on the inside lane just before 6:30 a.m. Duke was taken to St David's South Austin Medical Center, but died the following day.
• In November 2016, James Arthur Gantt, 61, was struck by a pickup truck while he tried crossing across a portion of I-35 in North Austin. The fatal collision occurred along the 5300 block of North I-35 just before 6 a.m.
• On Dec. 17, 2015, Gary Crescini, 45, died when a vehicle traveling westbound in the 3000 block of East State Highway 71 left the roadway, careened into the center median and struck him. The driver fled the scene after hitting Crescini, police said. It's uncertain what time the incident occurred, but police estimate it happened in a time frame between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.

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