The streets of Harris County have become treacherous for those who traverse them by foot or bicycle, with a significant uptick in collisions resulting in fatalities and injuries. As reported by FOX26 Houston, the alarming trend has prompted local law enforcement agencies to clamp down on reckless driving, particularly around crosswalks.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg expressed concern over the rising death toll, stating, "We’ve seen an unprecedented number of bicycle and pedestrian deaths, 30 in Harris County just since October".
At the same time, similar sentiments were echoed by Sheriff Ed Gonzales, who pointed out a relentless increase in auto-pedestrian collisions over the past years. According to KTRK, Sheriff Gonzalez mentioned that his team has had to manage 60 pedestrian fatalities so far in 2023, compared to 53 in 2022 and 46 the year before that.
The human toll of this epidemic was poignantly illustrated by Cody Eberhardt, whose mother was killed by a driver while preparing for the BP MS 150 in 2017. "It gets harder as I sit here and think about my 2-year-old son who cannot see his grandmother and has to walk down a hall and look at a picture and blow her a kiss," Eberhardt told FOX26 Houston.
Texas has introduced stiffer penalties for offenders. A new state law stipulates that drivers who kill or injure pedestrians or cyclists in a crosswalk could now face felony charges. This push for heightened accountability resonates with first responders. Sergeant Erik Bruse, with the Texas Department of Public Safety, shared with KTRK the recurrent utterances at accident sites: "When we go to a crash scene, we ask what happened. 'I didn't see them.' 'What happened?' 'They came out of nowhere.' 'What happened?' 'I wasn't paying attention,'"
