The Roanoke City Council resumed in person City Council meetings and did not offer a call-in option on September 8th. I was unable to attend in person, but drafted this statement which was printed and distributed to City Council in lieu of my ability to read it.

Thank you Mayor and members of the City Council for hearing me today. In May, I spoke to the Council about a person walking who was hit and killed on Brandon Avenue. 

Today, I am speaking because three people were killed by drivers while walking in Roanoke in the last week.

• On Thursday, September 3rd, Albert Cager Jr. was hit and killed by a driver on Salem Turnpike NW.
• On Friday, September 4th, a man and woman were hit by a driver on Williamson Road NE. The woman died.
• On Monday, September 7th, a woman was hit and killed by a driver on Hershberger Road NW.

When the City of Roanoke launched its “Every Corner is a Crosswalk”pedestrian safety campaign this summer, three people had already been killed while walking in the city this year. Now, that number has doubled in less than a week.

The City of Roanoke needs to do more than admonish drivers to respect the legal rights of people walking. The City of Roanoke needs to take positive action to make its streets safer – it needs to invest in safe sidewalks throughout the city, invest in street lighting, and invest in crosswalks and infrastructure to slow down drivers and give space to people walking.

This deadly week highlights the need for the City Council to provide leadership to Roanoke’s built environment and correct past mistakes that have created dangerous conditions for people walking and biking. The Department of Public Works, City Manager, and others involved in making our streets safe, or unsafe, need to know that the City Council believes traffic deaths are preventable and supports them prioritizing the safety of people over the speed of vehicles.

Whether planning for a livable built environment in the City’s next Comprehensive Plan or making decisions about corridors during repaving, the City of Roanoke needs to actively decide to prioritize the safety of people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving in order to prevent tragedies like this in the future.