Metro Nashville police have identified the man killed while crossing West Trinity Lane on March 2 as 77-year-old Tom Nunnery, a pedestrian struck just after sunrise on one of the city’s most notorious corridors.
Police say Nunnery was hit by a Nissan Altima shortly after 6 a.m. while trying to cross W. Trinity Lane. The driver, a 23-year-old, stayed at the scene, helped move Nunnery to the sidewalk, and cooperated with investigators. Officers reported no signs of impairment, and no further details about the crash have been released, according to NewsChannel 5.
Trinity Lane’s Troubled Safety Record
West Trinity Lane has been on the city’s radar for years as a problem spot for people on foot. Vision Zero advisory committee minutes list the stretch among recent pedestrian crashes and flag it as a potential Year 3 “transformative project” for targeted safety upgrades, according to Nashville.gov.
The corridor has repeatedly surfaced in safety briefings as part of a wider network of high-injury streets where serious and fatal crashes cluster, especially during off-peak hours when drivers tend to speed.
Local Grief and Safety Demands
Neighborhood groups and advocacy organization Walk Bike Nashville have been holding memorials along busy pikes like Trinity Lane and pushing the city to move faster on interim fixes while bigger redesigns crawl through the planning process. Walk Bike Nashville’s recent memorial work highlights residents’ calls for basics such as marked crosswalks, adjusted signal timing and other relatively low-cost interventions.
According to recent Vision Zero meeting notes, city staff and the Nashville Department of Transportation have floated speed-limit reviews, Leading Pedestrian Intervals and “quick-build” crossings as short-term measures for high-injury corridors like Trinity Lane. The minutes lay out a plan to evaluate speeds, signal timing and small-scale crossing treatments as part of a broader implementation strategy for priority streets.
As investigators continue to examine the circumstances of Nunnery’s death, neighbors say the pre-dawn collision is a harsh reminder of the risks pedestrians face on Nashville’s fast-moving arterials. According to NewsChannel 5, the reporter on the story invited anyone with additional information about the crash to reach out.
