Austin Has 4 Of State's Most Dangerous Pedestrian Roads

AUSTIN, TX — Not a week seems to pass in Austin without hearing news of a pedestrian killed on local roadways, giving rise to suspicions that the city might have a disproportionate number of dangerous roads and intersections.

A newly released study suggests the perception is accurate, including the city's dubious distinction of having the most dangerous intersection in the entire state and four of top ten most hazardous spots for pedestrians statewide.

The Hill Law Firm partnered with data visualization firm 1Point21 Interactive to scour the latest data from the Texas Department of Transportation to uncover trends related to pedestrian accidents throughout the state. Through the use of geospatial analysis, the study found 73 high-risk zones statewide that resulted in 1,088 pedestrian crashes, 1,044 injuries and 41 fatalities in a three-year period from 2012-2015 — the four latest available years for which there is crash data at the Texas Department of Transportation.

In the reckoning, Austin was found to have the most dangerous intersection in the state at Trinity and East 7th streets. All told, Austin saw 171 crashes, 171 injuries, and 5 fatalities across 115 intersections while also having the most dangerous intersection in the state, researchers found.

Although no deaths have been reported at the intersection, there have been 40 crashes at Trinity and East 7th streets during the time frame studied, resulting in six incapacitating injuries and 42 total injuries. Those stats place the intersection atop the list as the state's most dangerous, according to the study.

Austin was found to have four of the state's most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. Aside form Trinity and East 7th, the other most dangerous local intersections in the top ten such spots statewide were:

• The intersection of West 4th and Lavaca streets took the No. 4 spot, with 31 total crashes, six resulting in incapacitating injuries and 34 total injuries. No deaths have been reported there during the time frame studied in the report.
• In the 7th slot statewide, North Lamar was deemed to be among the state's most dangerous. There, 25 crashes have occurred resulting in three incapacitating injuries, 24 total injuries and one death.
• In the tenth position, Interstate 35 at Rundberg was recorded as having seen 16 crashes. Of those, seven resulted in incapacitating injuries out of 21 total crashes. In the time frame studied, there have been no reported deaths at that intersection.

Other cities figured prominently on the list of the state's most dangerous roadways for pedestrians. In the top five, San Marcos, Dallas and Laredo also were represented. In the top 25, streets in Brownsville, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, College Station, also were represented.

The study by the San Antonio personal injury law firm examines the issue, maps out every location where a pedestrian collision occurred and identifies and highlights high danger areas across the state. Here’s a link to the full study and data.

Just in the past few months in Austin, there have been several pedestrian-related deaths — some of them with deadly consequences. In response to such accidents statewide, the Texas Department of Transportationlaunched a safety awareness campaign last month titled "Be Safe Be Seen."

Among the most recent pedestrian-involved accidents in Austin are:

• Nov. 24, when 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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