In August, 17-year-old Matthew Nikolai was walking across Chippewa Street to get some Ted Drewes when a pickup truck struck the Christian Brothers College High School student. He fell into eastbound traffic, where a Ford Fusion also struck him. Nikolai was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The tragedy gained attention, particularly since the pickup truck driver fled the scene. In addition, it was the second pedestrian death that year in front of that Ted Drewes. More people joined an outcry for greater safety measures that has been echoing through St. Louis for years because this town is a terrible place to be a pedestrian or cyclist.
As of October of this year, 90 pedestrians had been killed statewide. The St. Louis region — which includes St. Charles County, Jefferson County and Franklin County — alone had 40 pedestrian deaths according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cyclists in the city have not fared any better. After a car struck and killed Danyell McMiller, 47, activists taped bicycle helmets to poles along South Grand with satirical city orders that read, "As of October 2022, we hereby suggest that all pedestrians crossing any St. Louis street should wear helmets while crossing such street until further notice."
The danger stems from impaired and reckless drivers, who have caused so much damage and death on South Grand that business owners have pleaded with people to slow down and drive more carefully. (The problem is not just in the city; many pedestrians and cyclists in the county have been struck and killed by drivers.) Pedestrians themselves might also be impaired when they stumble out into traffic.
Our streets need to be made safer for pedestrians by curtailing reckless driving, and Mayor Tishaura Jones is proposing using $40 million in ARPA funds to introduce traffic-calming measures in high-risk areas. Traffic calming could include speed humps, narrowed roads, curb extensions, single-lane roundabouts and making one-way roads into two-way roads to force more careful driving. Better lighting and sidewalks could also help. But Patrick Van Der Tuin, director of St. Louis BWorks, which teaches bicycle safety to kids, points out that engineering roads to be safer is just the start.
"We don't require any driver's education for those who get behind the wheel," he says. The area is also lacking in enforcement. Folks like Andy Karandzieff, owner of Crown Candy Kitchen, routinely post videos of people running stop signs with no repercussions.
The record for most pedestrian deaths in Missouri was set in 2020 with 128. If we don't want to beat our own record, St. Louis has to make the streets safer for everyone.
Welcome to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of 2022, a look back at the ups and downs of a turbulent year in the St. Louis region.
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