Pinellas To Counter Reputation For High Bike, Pedestrian Deaths

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Following a weekend that saw three fatal pedestrian traffic accidents in Pinellas County, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office will use a state grant to turn this trend around and decrease pedestrian and bicycle deaths along Pinellas County roads.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has received a contract from the Florida Department of Transportation for a High Visibility Enforcement Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Project set to begin Monday, Oct. 19 and run through Friday, May 14.

Enforcement will focus on 25 locations throughout Pinellas County, which have been identified as being high crash areas for pedestrians and bicyclists. Pinellas County deputies will distribute educational materials and talk to violators in the hopes of changing behaviors that will lead to fewer crashes.

The High Visibility Enforcement project is being funded through a contract with the University of North Florida in partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation's initiative to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. The program was created by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration for metropolitan areas like Tampa Bay which has been rated among the top in the nation for bicyclist and pedestrian deaths.

For members of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and police departments, these fatalities are all too common in their tourist towns where walking and biking are preferred ways to get around but the transportation network isn't set up to accommodate them. There are simply not enough sidewalks, bike lanes and adequately marked road crossings to protect pedestrians and bicyclists on busy roads.

On Sunday morning, a pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle attempting to cross Missouri Avenue at Belleair Road in Clearwater Friday night died from her injuries at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

Also on Friday, a 58-year-old man died in the hospital from injuries he received after being struck by a hit-and-run driver at Central Avenue and 34th Streets in St. Petersburg.

On Saturday night a teen boy died at the hospital when he stepped into the roadway into the path of an oncoming vehicle on East Bay Drive just west of Highland Avenue in Largo.

It's a tragedy that Forward Pinellas has been working to solve through its Vision Zero effort. First implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, the Vision Zero Network has spread throughout the United States, focusing on eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries using a multi-pronged approach that combines road, sidewalk, bike lane and crosswalk improvements, high-tech safety devices, education, enforcement, lowered speed limits, turning intersections into traffic circles and other proven methods of reducing accidents.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Pinellas County had the highest rate of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths in the country in 2018.

Sixty-one percent of all traffic fatalities in the county involved pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. More than one out of three fatal crashes involved pedestrians in Pinellas County. And bicycles were involved in nearly 40 percent more accidents than pedestrians.

According to a report by Forward Pinellas, hot spots include:

• 4th Street: 9th Avenue South to 46th Avenue North
• Park Boulevard: Park Street to US 19
• West Bay Drive/State Road 686: Indian Rocks Road to 58th Street
• Fort Harrison Avenue: Belleair Road to Drew Street
• Seminole Boulevard: Bay Pines Boulevard to Ulmerton Road
• Tampa Road: Orange Street to Race Track Road
• Gulf to Bay Boulevard: highest crash intersections, including Belcher Road, Old Coachman
• Road, US 19 and Park Place Boulevard
• US 19/34th Street (south of Park Boulevard): highest crash intersections, including 70th Avenue, 62nd Avenue, 22nd Avenue North and 5th Avenue North.

See related stories:

Pedestrian Dies After Struck By Vehicle Crossing Missouri Ave