VIDEO: Crash near 2nd Street Festival sparks continued concerns on speeding in Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — As the 2nd Street Festival winded down in Downtown Richmond on Sunday, a nearby crash involving an intoxicated driver left many people hurt. The incident remains on the minds of residents living near Broad Street, sparking continued concern about speeding in the city.

Nate Peterson of Richmond told 8News that he was in his apartment at the time of the crash and, while getting ready to meet a friend, he had heard what sounded like an explosion.

“I thought [it] was a bomb, but thankfully, it wasn’t,” Peterson said of his reaction. “I come outside and I see this white SUV is just completely lodged into this black trailer on Broad Street.”

Peterson captured video of the incident on his phone at the time and shared it with 8News. He estimates about 50 or 60 people were at the scene, as well as the Richmond Police Department.

Officers responded to the intersection of East Broad and Third streets for a report of a crash at 6:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6. When officers arrived, they found that a vehicle and a truck pulling a trailer collided at the intersection.

According to police, the striking vehicle was moving west when it hit the trailer of the truck, which was attempting to make a left turn from East Broad Street onto Third Street.

Several people were injured in the crash. They were taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries not considered life-threatening.

The woman who was driving the striking vehicle was arrested and charged with a DUI.

Peterson said he was not shocked by this incident. As he told 8News, he feels the community lacks traffic enforcement.

“I hear people blowing down through red lights, I see people loudly on their motorcycles or on their loud, expensive cars,” Peterson said. “Every day here, I could probably say I see someone running a red light here — and I never see anyone go after them.”

According to Peterson, a group of drivers called the “Vroom Vroom Boys” are also adding to the frequent noise on the streets.

“It’s the ones who run the red lights and the ones who speed down Broad,” Peterson said. “Those are the ones who are doing it, [they] are making it a dangerous environment overall.”

Laura Green of Jackson Ward told 8News that she frequents the area often. She described the traffic strip itself as “hell and back.”

“Is the traffic going to stop?” Green said. “Nope — it’ll smack you just like that … they don’t care.”

Green is calling on the community to slow down, while Peterson has a few suggestions for officials. He said that the technology already exists to check speeds automatically without an officer having to stop someone, so why not implement it here?

“Just an automatic speed ticket thing that just says, ‘Hey, you can drive down Broad Street [and] you’re going to get a ticket if you’re driving down here 55 miles an hour, trying to do a drag race—there’ll be consequences and you’ll pay a fine,'” Peterson said.

City officials have been battling speeding problems and have most recently installed more than a dozen speed cameras , especially near school zones, to address the issue. So far, thousands of speeding tickets have been issued as a result.

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