A person was struck trying to cross the highway early Wednesday morning.
The crash occurred around 1:00 a.m. on Interstate 435 and Highway 24. According to authorities, the unidentified victim was attempting to cross the highway when they were struck by an oncoming vehicle.
The injuries sustained by the victim were described as minor. The driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and spoke with police.
“The culprit for this incident was not dark clothing, but a lack of infrastructure to help pedestrians cross the highway safely,” said Eric Rogers, executive director for BikeWalkKC. “We’re relieved the victim’s injuries were minor, but that’s of little solace for a crash that didn’t need to happen.”
“We’re thankful that the driver stopped, but the pedestrian should not have been forced to take that risk in the first place,” according to BikeWalkKC’s policy director Eric Bunch. “As long as we treat the inclusion of sufficient pedestrian infrastructure as optional, situations as bad or worse than this will continue to occur.”
As BikeWalkKC has stated in the past, what deserves the brunt of the blame for these crashes is the culture that values car traffic efficiency over the safety of human lives.
For more information, contact Karen Campbell, director of development and communications, at (816) 205-7056 (ext. 2) or by email at karen.campbell@bikewalkkc.org.
BikeWalkKC believes that crashes are not accidents and clothing is not an excuse.