RICHMOND, Va. -- Two months after a driver struck and killed a VCU student who was crossing the street at Laurel and West Main streets on campus, a Richmond woman is working to impact change.
When Sharon Shaw heard about the death of 22-year-old Mahrokh Khan, she reached out to Strong Towns. She asked that the national advocacy organization consider the intersection for a Crash Studio Analysis or a comprehensive analysis of the environment at the location of a deadly crash.
Her goal was to determine whether or not the road was unsafe.
Shaw said she and other community members, like Christian Schick, actually came out to the intersection and did a speed study. She said they believe the speed limit should be reduced in this area.
"Even the set speed limit of 25 is too much when you think about people being out here on foot," Shaw, who has lived in Richmond for 18 years, said. "I've been down to John Tyler [campus], and the speed limit there where no one walks is 10 or 15 miles an hour. And most other self-contained campuses are 10 to 15 miles an hour, and this is a campus right here. And it needs to slow down."
According to the National Highway Safety Administration, even a one or two-mile-per-hour reduction can reduce the chance of fatalities or injuries on the road.
Shaw and Chick also would like to see concrete barriers added to the four crosswalks to make the curb more of a 90-degree angle. They said they believed that would make it more difficult for a vehicle to speed when making a right turn.
"You could also shorten the distance that the pedestrians are in the roadway, and that's easy," Shaw explained.
"We tend to assume that the pedestrian has the last line of common sense defense and that the pedestrian should assume the streets are unsafe, and be cautious at all times," Chick said. "However, in this sort of area, I believe that there's an extra responsibility on the drivers. They should assume at all times that there might be pedestrians out because this is a very pedestrian-heavy zone."
The Crash Studio Analysis is happening virtually Friday at 12:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is available at this link.
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