Turner announces efforts to improve pedestrian safety
Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday announced a new initiative to improve pedestrian safety, including improvements near the crash scene where a man in a wheelchair and the woman who stopped to help him were killed last month crossing a busy street in the Greater Heights.
Turner announced planned adjustments to Metro bus stops, the establishment of a pedestrian safety task force and a pedestrian-safety service request at the city’s 311 call center.
“For Houston to become more resilient, everyone must invest in safer, more accessible and more complete streets for all,” Turner said at a news conference to promote his Cities Safer Streets Initiative.
A Metro bus stop on North Shepherd at W. 7th Street — near the spot where 63-year-old Jesus Perez and 55-year-old Lesha Adams were struck and killed March 30 by a driver who initially fled the scene — will be removed. Bus riders will instead be directed to a planned new Metro stop farther up N. Shepherd, at the intersection with W. 10th Street; it sits near a Kroger supermarket and currently has a crosswalk with faded paint but no pedestrian signal.
That intersection will also get enhanced accessibility with new ramps, as well as general pedestrian safety improvements with a hybrid pedestrian beacon, which gives drivers a red light when pedestrians cross the street.
The intersection of N. Shepherd and W. 12th streets currently has a bus stop, wheelchair-accessible ramps and a traffic signal.
The press conference was held Thursday afternoon at the intersection of N. Shepherd and W. 10th streets. Government officials spoke at a podium set up on the sidewalk. Vehicle brakes screeched to stops in the background as safety officers guided pedestrians across the faded crosswalk that stretches over four lanes.
“It’s almost like a game of Frogger,” Police Chief Art Acevedo said of attempting to cross the street.
That danger is more prevalent for wheelchair users.
Maria Town, director of the Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities, said those in wheelchairs are 33 percent more likely than pedestrians without disabilities to be killed in a traffic accident. For seniors in wheelchairs, that rate goes up to 75 percent.
“People without disabilities have fought too hard, for too long to achieve bare access to our communities,” Town said.