Safe streets put pedestrians first — not cars
Guest Column in the Daily Memphian by Rebekah McConnell
On the day my son William was fatally injured, my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary. Amid our busy, happy lives as parents, it was a rare and peaceful “just the two of us” trip, one we had looked forward to for months.
But our peace was shattered by a phone call no parent should ever receive. Our 14-year-old boy had been struck by a car in a crosswalk, and just like that, our world changed forever.
William had a smile that could light up a room and a curiosity about the world that never dimmed. He loved going to the skate park, cheering on the Memphis Tigers and hanging out with his friends. The crosswalk was just blocks away from his favorite skate park, Society Memphis, and supposed to be safe. Aren’t all crosswalks meant to be safe? Isn’t that why we have them? But safety was an illusion, one that cost us our son, and sadly we are not alone in experiencing this particular kind of heartbreak.
Memphis recently earned the grim title of the most deadly metropolitan area for pedestrians in the United States by Smart Growth America in its Dangerous by Design 2024 report. The statistics are staggering, but statistics alone don’t capture the horror and helplessness of losing someone you love in a preventable road crash. Facts and figures are just that, until you have to live it — until you have to bury your child, put away clothes they’ll never wear again and walk by an empty room that should still be full of life.