Pedestrian fatalities trending down in Tampa, Pinellas County as mobility leaders share Vision Zero progress
CLEARWATER, Fla. - There have been several deadly crashes involving pedestrians in the last few months, so safety leaders in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties are sharing their progress on Vision Zero plans.
Every area has its trouble spots, and in Clearwater one of them is at Old Coachman Road and Gulf to Bay Boulevard.
"This is just an inherently unsafe intersection because the turning vehicles aren’t looking for trails users or people crossing. They are looking to make sure they can make the light and get through the intersection," said Whit Blanton, the executive director of Forward Pinellas, adding some context with the county’s traffic death numbers. "So, 2020 to 2023 were some of our worst years for pedestrian and bicycle fatalities. It has now started to moderate."
Across the Bay Area, families are grieving loved ones among the latest pedestrian fatalities.
This week in St. Petersburg, a woman out walking was killed by a driver. In December 2023, a bicyclist and a pedestrian were hit and killed on Fourth street in St. Pete, and drivers hit students on their way to school in Pasco and Polk counties.
The dangers touch every community.
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"It’s a dire need and an urgency that we reduce the number of injuries and fatalities of pedestrians, cyclists and all modes of travel, motorists as well," said Vik Bidhe, the director of mobility for the city of Tampa.
Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities are trending downward in the Tampa area.
Bidhe said the city’s numbers for pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities are trending down, but the goal is zero to line up with Tampa’s Vision Zero plan for transportation safety.
"We’re executing on some of those recommendations like speed zone cameras in school zones," said Bidhe.
Changes are coming in 2024 to Tampa’s roads, including expanding the city’s paving team resources through more staff and equipment.
"More paving gives us the opportunity to not only fill potholes and the usual complaints but to redesign our streets," Bidhe said.
MORE: Tampa leaders involve community in effort to eliminate traffic deaths
There is also a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that Bidhe said will also go toward safety improvements along corridors.
A wooden cross alongside a street is a reminder of crash fatalities.
"Seventy-five percent of those $20 million those funds will be expended in communities of concern where there’s lower access, lower incomes, and more diverse populations and low car ownership," said Bidhe.
Across the bay in Pinellas County, Forward Pinellas said Vision Zero is also the plan.
"The goal is really to deliver transportation projects that help change behavior of how people drive on some of our roadways," said Blanton. "On State Road 580 in Dunedin, we have a modification to Skinner Boulevard where the Pinellas Trail crossing is up in Dunedin. That road is going to go from a four-lane divided higher speed roadway to a two-lane roadway with a series of roundabouts and safer pedestrian crossings, and we had a fatality at that location.
READ: Pedestrian, bicyclist killed in St. Pete crash, 1 driver charged: SPPD
Changes in 2024 will include work at the intersection of Old Coachman and Gulf to Bay to make the area safer for drivers and pedestrians.
"The trail is being shifted a little bit to the west, and the crossing area is being better marked," said Blanton. "It will be a wider crossing, and it will be a protected signal for the pedestrians and bicycles crossing."
Mobility leaders said they hope the changes help slow down drivers and make people more aware of what’s around them.