TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Tallahassee community members want to see more patrols after multiple traffic crashes at the intersection of Pensacola and Cactus streets.
Tallahassee Driver Laonia Enzor says she's traumatized after hitting a man at that intersection last Saturday evening. "I pulled over and was in utter shock," she said, "like, did my car just collide with a human body?"
ABC27 was able to speak with her because she says the Tallahassee Police Department determined she was not at fault. " The the guy was, first of all he was in the middle of the road, walking across the street, not in a crosswalk with dark colors on," she said. She adds, it's something that happens all too often. "There are a lot of people crisscrossing that road and it's so dangerous."
According to The Tallahassee Police Department, there are approximately 23 reports for incidents at that intersection in the past five years. Florida State University College Student John Held, lives nearby and says he witnessed more than one. "In the past year alone, I've seen at least three pedestrian deaths on this street," Held said. "The last time I witnessed, and I witnessed the incident happen, a man stepped in front of a dump truck and he was essentially pulverized."
Pensacoa Street is one of several areas included in TPD's High Visibility Enforcement detail, a program funded with more than $32,000 dollars towards implementing pro-active patrols to reduce the number of crashes related to pedestrians and bicyclists.
TPD Detective Jim Harris says more than 20 officers received specific training for the detail. "We make contact with both drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists in those areas and to educate is our biggest thing there, giving them the pamphlets, explaining why we stopped them, directing pedestrians to crosswalks that sometimes are just 20 feet away just trying to make it safer for everyone," Harris said. "We've written a handful of tickets," he adds, and points out how they've spent more than 100 hours patrolling the Pensacola Street area since the detail began last November. Regarding crashes, he assures, "If it's continual, and we're continually having problems, you'll see additional either motorcycles or additional patrol assets that would be directed out there."
Enzor says she hopes to see improvement in the area sooner rather than later to protect everyone involved. "If that situation is not fixed," she says, "I won't be the only one going through this."
