Dozens of pedestrians have died at Brevard's dangerous intersections. How can they be safer?
One was a 17-year-old girl wearing ear buds and crossing a busy neighborhood traffic corridor that cuts the length of Palm Bay. Another, an 82-year-old man walking along State Road A1A to his daughter’s home after a synagogue service.
Others include a mother and daughter who were struck and killed by vehicles years apart as they walked near the rumble of traffic in Cocoa.
What all of them have in common is that they are among the 96 pedestrians who died as a result of fatal crashes from 2018 to 2022 along Brevard County’s roads — from highways to bustling intersections and neighborhood streets, data from the medical examiner's office shows. Another 177 pedestrians suffered serious injuries as a result of the crashes during the same time period, according to statistics from accident reports.
Preliminary data for traffic fatalities issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association – an agency that analyzes statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – reported that 2022 saw the highest number of pedestrian deaths nationwide since 1981.
The agency projected that 7,508 pedestrians were killed in crashes in 2022 out of more than 43,000 traffic fatalities nationwide. Florida’s numbers — 824 pedestrians in 2022 — actually dipped 1.1 percent over the period from 2021 to 2022, GHSA’s data analysis shows. Florida also ranked third behind Louisiana and New Mexico with pedestrian fatalities by population, according to a preliminary report prepared by the group.
“Every life lost on our roads is a heart-breaking tragedy. These fatalities highlight the urgent need for a systemic shift in how we approach traffic safety,” said Georganna Gillette, executive director of the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization.
What can be done to make Brevard roads safer?
Among the top five crash locations on the Space Coast: Clearlake Road and Lake Drive, near Cocoa; Canaveral Groves Boulevard and U.S. 1 in the county; U.S. 1 and Garden Street in Titusville; Eau Gallie Boulevard and Wickham Road in Melbourne; and State Road 520 and Clearlake Road in the county.
But state and local authorities with the transportation planning organization along with community advocates hope planned changes can make those areas safer and reduce pedestrian deaths.
“I think it’s a multi-pronged problem,” said Abby Hemenway, the spokesperson for the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization that reviews and administers policies involving federal transportation funding for Brevard.
“There isn’t just any one reason. Certainly driver behaviors play a big part and speeding is always a factor. We also have to consider whether our roads are a part of that problem," she said.
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The agency has already sought to raise awareness about the increased need for roadway safety through its Vision Zero program, a traffic safety and public awareness campaign.
Experts and observers point out that most of the primary traffic corridors in Brevard County, developed and planned in the 1960s and in the decades that followed, were designed in an era of growing mobilization, where residents used cars or other motorized forms of transportation.
Fast forward nearly six decades and the Space Coast has blossomed to more than 600,000, drawing tourists from around the world to watch space launches or head to Port Canaveral for a cruise or stroll the tourist towns of Cocoa Beach and Cocoa Village. That, combined with the differing driving styles of residents transplanted from other states and new businesses and neighborhoods are creating challenges for pedestrian traffic, Hemenway and others note.
Cocoa police say that along Clearlake near Dixon Boulevard limited lighting makes walking dangerous for pedestrians but some have no choice.
“It gets very dark out there but some of the pedestrian still walk into the road,” said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Cocoa Police Department.
Police officers along heavily-congested traffic corridors like U.S. 1 or State Road A1A note that pedestrians also in some cases ignore rules and take chances by darting out into traffic or skirting the use of crosswalks.
In Melbourne, patrol officers cope with a homeless population, bike riders and other pedestrians who sometimes weave in and out of the busy traffic in and around the riverside and Downtown Melbourne district.
“Some of our worst intersections are Wickham and Sarno, U.S. 1 and Eau Gallie, U.S. 1 and Sarno, Babcock and Hibiscus,” said Sgt. Ben Slover, spokesperson for the Melbourne Police Department. “Anywhere along U.S. 1, Wickham and Babcock are potentially problematic due to the number of vehicles that travel on those roadways,” Slover added.
Vision Zero seeks change, education
Major renovations have been made to accommodate pedestrians in areas like Satellite Beach. Some roadway construction includes raising curbs and medians along with other tech-driven tools such as flashing lights, designed to highlight safety for both motorists and pedestrians.
“Instead of placing the burden solely on pedestrians to be hyper-vigilant, we believe the Safe Systems Approach offers a proven framework to achieve Vision Zero – a future with zero traffic deaths or serious injuries,” Gillette said.
“This approach acknowledges that humans make mistakes, and road design and infrastructure should play a critical role in preventing those mistakes from turning deadly."
What does that look like?
Lower speeds
Dedicated crosswalks and sidewalks for pedestrians
Other safety features incorporated into roadways
“It’s hard to plan for transportation in this area. You also have a lot of transportation disadvantaged, and many of them are using bikes or walking,” said Dr. Miriam Moore, director of operations for HFH Supportive Housing and a member of SCTPO’s leadership team and transportation board for the disadvantaged.
'It's not fair'
Moore also knows personally the tragedy of losing two loved ones, her mother and daughter, to motorists while they were walking along busy roads in the Cocoa area. She has had to raise her grandson, Connor, and is reminded of the deaths every time she gets in the car, watching as people still try to navigate congested roads unfriendly to pedestrians.
Moore was actually stuck in traffic, detoured by a traffic accident when she learned later that her 79-year-old mother Mary Mennicke was struck a 2010 Dodge Ram pickup truck going 10 mph as it pulled out of a shopping plaza. Mennicke was knocked down by the truck, striking her head.
Seven months later, on Jan. 18, 2021, Moore's daughter, Amber Kelso, was killed in a motorcycle crash on State Road 520. She was 27.
"I live off of Clearlake Road, so it's very depressing," Moore said of living near the high traffic road. "Where my daughter was killed, part of the sidewalk has collapsed. And where mother my died, that's now an entrance to a homeless camp."
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"There's (also) a ton of trash in the ditch," nearby, said Moore, who often parks at the sites to clean the surroundings and to trade out the sun-faded flowers marking the roadside memorials for her mother and daughter.
“I had no way of knowing the loss (of her mother) would prepare me for a conversation with my then 6-year-old grandson seven months later, when his mother died in a motorcycle crash," said Moore, who over the years has worked as executive director of the Brevard Homeless Coalition, combing the surrounding wooded areas to talk with the unhoused.
The deaths made Moore, who later adopted her grandson who also can be seen with her at the tribute sites leaving little memorials, painfully aware of the need for safety improvements for people walking to and from the shopping plazas along Clearlake and Dixon.
"While I am grateful my daughter chose me to raise her son, it’s not fair that he should grow up without his mommy, and I will never have the joy of being able to spoil him and send him home to her,” Moore said in an impact statement for the agency.
“We miss our moms’ hugs, laughter, and smiles. I miss my daughter. We talk about them often, and through stories from his aunts and uncles, we help keep alive the few memories he still has of them. Today, my biggest challenge is navigating the emotions of grief over losing a mother and a child, and having to be strong for a little boy who can’t understand why he has to grow up without them.”
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Deadly roads focus of pedestrian safety efforts in Melbourne, Florida
