People hit by vehicles on the rise

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — August is on track to set a record for the most pedestrian safety incidents in at least two years in Indianapolis, according to the Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis .

Through early Thursday afternoon, 76 incidents have been reported in August. That’s one less than the previous record set in April. Of those 76, seven have been fatal.

Eric Holt, founder of Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis, said, “August has been just, honestly, crazy, the entirety of August. It’s honestly unlike anything we’ve seen before in the two-plus years of tracking this data.”

Holt started keeping track of fatality data in January 2022 and, in May 2022, he began tracking all incidents.

He described an “incident” as “anything where a 911 call is made for someone that has been struck by a vehicle.

“So, a bicyclist, a pedestrian, maybe someone in a wheelchair.”

So far this year, six juveniles have been struck in hit-and-runs.

Holt was hopeful the city government can combat the reality, and commended it for passing the new Vision Zero movement. The movement aims to ensure zero traffic deaths by 2035.

According to Holt, the results of that movement won’t be seen for at least 18 months, though. He is calling for more immediate action, including the implementation of traffic-calming projects.

“Narrowing our lanes, possibly even removing a lane from a road that has through many lanes for the amount of traffic that is there, things like bumping out the crosswalks, pulling back where vehicles can park near the crosswalk to what’s called ‘daylight’ them, to make people that are crossing more visible,” Holt said.

He also says Cincinnati, Milwaukee and other large cities should be examples for Indianapolis to follow when it comes to pedestrian safety.