Pedestrian crash deaths up 57 percent over 2015

44 pedestrians have died on San Antonio streets so far

SAN ANTONIO – A split second impact is all it takes for lives to change forever. In San Antonio, 44 pedestrians have died so far in 2016 after being hit by vehicles. That's a 57 percent increase over the 28 deaths during the same time period in 2015.

In fact, the city is closer to 2015's year-end total.

"(In) 2015 we were at 46," said April Luna, Transportation and Capital Improvements spokeswoman. "That means we just need to work harder at spreading the message and encourage our community to spread that message of Vision Zero."

Last September, the city introduced its Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths on city streets. Though deaths are up over last year, Luna said they have made strides with the amount of money budgeted for traffic safety.

"For 2017, we had $1 million allocated to do engineering studies and improvements to high crash corridors and intersections," she said. "That is a huge stride."

Officer Doug Greene of the SAPD said many pedestrian accidents happen at night, when a person is crossing a big road and not in a crosswalk."

"The pedestrian - we don't know exactly what was going on in their mind, but they may have been trying to take a shortcut," Greene said, "and you can see that shortcuts can kill."

Greene said pedestrians should cross at the cross walk, cross where it's light, follow the traffic signals and look both ways.


About the Author:

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.