After uptick in pedestrian fatalities, St. Paul urges drivers and walkers to step up, look out

It’s been a tough year for pedestrians in St. Paul, with seven fatalities so far, including five people killed while crossing the street in a crosswalk in just the past few months.

The most recent death happened on Nov. 23, when a motorist turning off Dale Street onto Summit Avenue struck two pedestrians in a crosswalk. A few days later, one of them, Janet Stevens, 75, of St. Paul, died of her injuries.

Earlier in November, Amber Deneen, 30, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking with her husband and dogs at St. Anthony Avenue and Aldine Street. Police subsequently made an arrest in that case.

“There has been an uptick in this kind of pedestrian crashes, really sad situations.” said Cmdr. Jeremy Ellison, who heads the St. Paul Police Department’s Traffic & Pedestrian Safety Unit. “We need a renewed focus on what we can do to prevent these.”

Minnesota law requires drivers to stop and yield to pedestrians in all marked and unmarked (unpainted) crosswalks, and those clearly waiting at the curb. But why drivers don’t stop is “a far more dynamic and complex interaction than one that can be boiled down to just knowledge of the crosswalk law,” said Nichole Morris, who has studied roadway safety as director of the University of Minnesota’s Human Factors Safety Laboratory.

Often speed is a factor. The roadway width, number of lanes, traffic volumes and lighting come into play, too, Morris said. Drivers also are sometimes impatient in waiting for pedestrians who cross the roadway, and willfully ignore them.

“Drivers may fail to scan the roadway, often fixating on vehicles in front of them or other upcoming hazards, and only notice the pedestrian when they are too close to stop in time,” Morris added.

In 2018, the department issued more than 1,700 citations when officers conducted a citywide “Stop for Me” awareness and enforcement campaign. The initiative will be brought back in the spring, Ellison said.

Driver error was a factor in the two recent deaths, Ellison said. From his experience, “almost 100 percent of the time, a driver says they didn’t see the pedestrian.”

Motorists need to slow down and take time to scan the street and stop for pedestrians, especially at corners, even if a crosswalk is not painted on the street, Ellison said.

“Drivers must not overtake and pass a vehicle stopped for a person at or in a crosswalk. There may be people crossing you can’t see,” reads a city-produced pedestrian safety handout.

Though pedestrians have the right of way, they must also practice “defensive walking,” Ellison said. That means looking both ways for traffic and waving or making eye contact with approaching vehicles, then stepping into the crosswalk only when vehicles have stopped.

Pedestrians should also check each lane for traffic when crossing a street with multiple lanes, he added. Wearing light-colored clothing can help, too.