UC students march for safer streets after multiple pedestrian deaths around campus

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – An event was held Monday night on the main campus of the University of Cincinnati to promote pedestrian safety.

The students urged the UCLA administration to work with the city on “preventable crashes” and “make the streets safe for everyone.”

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Purewal and Cincinnati City Council member Mark Jeffries were in attendance, expressing support for the students and pedestrian safety advocates who attended and marched.

“I know university leadership hears you and we are working together to make Cincinnati and UCLA safer,” Purewal said.

“Uptown Walk” was a response to what some say was a lack of action on the part of city and school leaders following the death of 18-year-old Kayden Turner.

Turner was killed and another UCLA student was seriously injured last September when a driver hit them as they crossed Jefferson Avenue at a marked crosswalk.

Data from the Devou Foundation shows that the incident is just the tip of the iceberg.

The data shows that there have been 654 traffic accidents on and around the UC campus in the past six months. 21 of them involved pedestrians, including Turner, as well as a man who was killed earlier last month.

[Deadly pedestrian crash near UC puts students on edge—again]

The data shows eight deaths of pedestrians or cyclists across the city in 182 fatal or severe car crashes in 2022.

“Every day we cross Clifton Avenue taking them to school and people drive incredibly fast and reckless,” said Clifton resident Dan Polifka.

UCLA student and avid cyclist Matthew Latavik says even with bike lanes and crosswalks, he’s all too familiar with dangerous situations on the edge.

“Cars drive right past you… It caused me to fall off my bike,” he said. “Sometimes cars pass you within a foot of you. First, it is illegal and highly unsafe.”

Latavik advocates for the creation of basic infrastructure to create safer roads for cyclists and pedestrians.

“Reducing the speed limit, measures to reduce traffic … This is extremely important,” he said. “In my opinion, [they’re] much more important than driver training, because it has been known that for years it did not work. So, in my opinion, it’s best to make them slow down rather than asking for it.”

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