MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police are investigating after a pedestrian was hit and killed Monday night near Vel R. Phillips Avenue and Center Street.
The 31-year-old victim died from their injuries. The victim has yet to be identified by the medical examiner’s office.
"As someone who walks and bikes, I'm really afraid that it's going to be me,” said Marybeth McGinnis.
Marybeth McGinnis is with Milwaukee Walks, a group that advocates for pedestrian safety. She's experienced the dangers firsthand.
"I've almost been hit, and I've been screamed at when I had the right to walk across the street,” she said.
UW-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory data shows 18 pedestrians have been killed so far this year on Milwaukee streets. It’s a notable decrease from a record 26 this time last year, but still more than each of the previous four years.
Urban planning experts blame a variety of factors for the uptick, from larger and heavier vehicles to aggressive and reckless drivers.
McGinnis thinks the biggest problem in Milwaukee is speeding.
“Getting hit at about 35 to 40 miles per hour really increases the chances of death up to around 90 percent,” she said.
A study by an organization called Streetlight Data found Milwaukee saw a 16 percent decrease in the amount of walking trips people take to get to their destination. It's one of the sharpest decreases in the country from 2021 to 2022.
Milwaukee's Department of Public Works thinks it's in part due to safety concerns.
"That's a sad reflection of where we are,” said city engineer Kevin Muhs.
Fewer people walking and more pedestrians killed than in years’ past is a frustrating combination for Muhs.
"Every single one of those deaths is a tragedy and it's something that we should be able to prevent and it's something that we should be able to avert,” he said.
It’s why Muhs said the city invested millions this year to re-engineer roads to get drivers to slow down and provide more protection for people who choose to walk.
"Probably the most common has been our pinned on bump outs which are the little islands of concrete near intersections, near the crosswalks,” he said. “Those have a number of functions, but one of the keys is to shrink the crossing distance for pedestrians, shrink the amount of space that they're exposed to potentially getting hit by a driver in a vehicle."
Hundreds were installed this year with more to come in the spring as the city prepares for another big year for traffic calming efforts.
"We're trying to do our part with the resources we have and also people just need to slow down,” Muhs said.
The Department of Public Works says one of its biggest traffic calming priorities when it comes to pedestrian safety in 2024 is installing raised crosswalks near schools to get drivers to slow down. 20 should be in place by this time next year.
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