A pedestrian crossing US 40 near White Avenue in East Kansas City suffered critical, life-threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon after being struck by a car, according to police. The crash happened around 3:40 p.m. as the pedestrian was walking north to south across the busy highway when a westbound black Hyundai hit them.
The driver attempted to swerve or stop but was unable to avoid hitting the pedestrian, according to KCTV. The injured pedestrian was transported to Centerpoint Medical Center, and the crash remains under investigation by police. Centerpoint, located in Independence, is the only designated Level II Trauma Center in eastern Jackson County, handling roughly 1,800 trauma activations a year at a facility that logs about 60,000 emergency department visits annually, according to Centerpoint Medical Center.
What Missouri Law Says About Fault
Crashes like this one raise thorny legal questions under Missouri statute. Pedestrians who cross a roadway outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk are required to yield the right-of-way to vehicles under Missouri Revised Statute § 300.390. At the same time, drivers are held to a stricter standard: Missouri Revised Statute § 300.410 obligates every driver to exercise the highest degree of care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on the roadway. Missouri follows a pure comparative fault doctrine, meaning liability in mid-block highway crashes like this one can be shared between a driver and a pedestrian depending on the specific circumstances.
Whether police will determine that speed, visibility, or other factors contributed to the driver's failed swerve attempt remains an open question, as does whether any citations or charges will follow. The pedestrian's ongoing medical condition also has not been publicly updated beyond the initial critical designation.
East Kansas City's Pedestrian Safety Problem
This crash lands squarely in a corridor that traffic safety data has repeatedly flagged as dangerous. More than half of all pedestrian traffic fatalities in Kansas City during 2022 and 2023 occurred east of Troost Avenue, an area that includes East Kansas City and the US 40 corridor. Hoodline previously reported on lasting road damage along Bruce R. Watkins Drive, also identified as US 71, in a separate article. Multi-lane state highways like US 40 carry elevated risk in part because of higher vehicle travel speeds, according to the Mid-America Regional Council, which found that pedestrians make up 13% of five-year crash fatalities in the Kansas City region despite accounting for just 6.12% of total travel trips.
The broader citywide numbers tell a mixed story. Total traffic fatalities in Kansas City fell 30% in 2025 to 68 deaths, down from 97 the year before, but pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities climbed to their highest annual level since 2020, accounting for nearly half of all traffic deaths in the city, per KCUR. Kansas City set a Vision Zero goal in 2020 to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2030, and the city allocated $8 million toward the program for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to redesign streets and install traffic-calming infrastructure along high-injury corridors.
State and National Trends Diverge
Missouri's own numbers point toward slow improvement. Preliminary state data shows traffic fatalities dropped 4.81% in 2025 to 909 deaths statewide, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. The department's 2025-2029 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program is also referenced in this discussion.
Nationally, pedestrian deaths have also been trending down. Governors Highway Safety Association data projected a 10.9% decrease in U.S. pedestrian fatalities during the first half of 2025, to 3,024 deaths. Still, Smart Growth America's 2026 “Dangerous by Design” study ranked the Kansas City metro among the top 70 most dangerous metros in the nation for pedestrians, while Missouri overall ranked in the top 20 most dangerous states, according to BikeWalkKC.
Tuesday's crash is a pedestrian collision in Kansas City. No further details on the identity of the pedestrian struck on US 40 or the driver of the black Hyundai have been released as the investigation continues.
