Just outside the City of Atlanta in Clayton County, a man was recently killed while walking across Tara Boulevard at this spot. The nearest crosswalk to the south is almost a half mile away. The nearest crosswalk to the north is a full mile away.

The spot on Tara Boulevard in Clayton County where the pedestrian was killed. Given the presence of seven lanes of moving traffic and MARTA bus stops, there should be frequent crosswalks and street lights here.

There are no streetlights on this road, the sidewalks are not continuous, and there are not frequent crosswalks (despite there being seven lanes of moving car traffic).

Here’s what you will find on this stretch of road: three MARTA bus routes, and bus stops on both sides. Which people need to get safely to and from.

The police report unhelpfully notes that the man was not in a crosswalk (what crosswalk?) and that he was wearing dark clothing (so, I guess it’s OK to kill him if he’s not wearing white?). None of the drivers of the three cars that hit him were charged.

Also not charged: the people guilty of designing this awful road, of not funding streetlights for it, and of zoning this place for destinations that pedestrians need to reach despite the danger. That whole crew got away without even a warning. The only person being blamed here is the deceased, who can’t defend himself.

Here’s the news story, where you’ll only learn about how guilty the deceased is. Sloppy journalism, AJC. You can do better. And notice the headline, which seems to make the traffic caused by the incident the main point, rather than the shoddy planning that likely played a part in causing someone’s death: