Street where car killed UMKC student known to be dangerous. Witness saw it coming, he says

Doug Shafer saw it happen.

He was in his car around lunchtime, pointed west, at the busy intersection of 51st Street and Troost Avenue, long known among the residents of the Troostwood neighborhood to be dangerous. Cars scream up and down Troost’s four lanes at high speeds.

There are three flashing yellow lights to mark the crosswalks, but no stoplight. Students heading to the University of Missouri-Kansas City cross there often. Neighbors worry.

Shafer, 74, looked to his right, through the passenger window. There he saw a young woman on an electric scooter also waiting to cross. Suddenly, a few cars slowed, turning into the nearby Go-Chicken-Go.

The young woman, a student from China, Yuxi Wu, who was studying piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music & Dance, drove her scooter forward. A red Ford Focus, driving north past the slower cars, seemed to come out of nowhere, speeding at or above 50 miles per hour.

“I watched it unfold. I anticipated what was going to happen . . . I blared on my horn,” Shafer said. The car collided with the young woman in the middle of Troost. The girl’s body flew.

“I was too rattled to be able to call 911, I kept calling 991 or whatever. . . . The young woman didn’t seem to be alive.”

Wu would later be declared dead at a local hospital.

“I’m a little stressed. I’m still dealing with it,” said Shafer less than 24 hours later. “It just really bothers me because it is an intersection that I’ve had trouble at myself. . . . Here’s a flashing yellow light that’s supposed to help, and a car that was speeding through, crossed right in front of us, oblivious. The neighborhood’s been asking for something better there for a while.”

The yellow flashing lights at the pedestrian crosswalks were put in earlier this year.

“We really do think a stop light is more important there,” Shafer said.

Traffic deaths in Kansas City

The death of Wu, who had just started her first semester at UMKC, is part of a trend. As The Star revealed in July, the rate of traffic fatalities in Kansas City has been escalating while police traffic enforcement efforts to curb unsafe behavior have been declining. The woman’s death Thursday is the city’s 71st traffic fatality this year, compared to 67 last year, police report.

Improvements have been made to the intersection at 51st and Troost in recent years with the addition of flashing yellow lights at the pedestrian crosswalks. But given how fast people drive up and down Troost, they say, more is needed.

‘More needs to be done’

In 2022, Iain Blair was a student at UMKC, studying civil engineering. Living east of Troost, he was often forced to cross the intersection.

“I have a very vested interest in that intersection,” said Blair, who now works on transportation issues as an engineer for HDR. “In 2022, I witnessed the aftermath of an accident at that intersection. I saw some young guy in a gurney getting taken care of by paramedics.”

As a result, he filed an application with the city’s Public Improvements Advisory Committee (PIAC) for improvements, which, he said, eventually led to the illuminated blinking stop signs.

“I mean, it was really devastating for me to see somebody on the ground being taken away,” he said. “I know how dangerous that intersection is. There’s Go-Chicken-Go. There’s the bus stop. There are a lot of students who live across Troost who walk across.

“I know how dangerous it is.”

He said he was happy to see improvements being made. Now, another person had not just been injured, but killed.

“More needs to be done,” he said. “A stop light would definitely help, for sure.”

Yuxi Wu

Wu was in her first semester, working toward earning her master’s degree.

“We are devastated by this tragic loss, and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones,” UMKC spokeswoman Stacy Downs wrote in a release. “We are providing counseling services to students, faculty and staff during this difficult time for our campus community.”

Wu, whose age was not included in the statement, had only just arrived at UMKC to study in part with pianist and composer Sean Chen.

“Yuxi was a wonderful and hardworking student and sensitive musician, and I understand a kind friend as well,” Chen said in a text to The Star. “It’s a great loss to us all.”