Natalie Neysa Alund

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Every day on her way to work at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Louise Morrison watches her back as she crosses one downtown intersection.

The 42-year-old violinist was on her way to perform last February when a car hit her from behind, sent her tumbling across the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Demonbreun Street. A friend walking with her was also hit.

"We were just crossing the street to the stage door. She turned around and I remember her screaming," Morrison said. "The next thing I remember was being on the ground. I looked behind me and saw her. I remember thinking she was dead."

Morrison shattered her right ankle and her friend suffered bad bumps and bruises. The women's accident was just one of 84 vehicle crashes involving pedestrians last year in the Central Precinct — a number that increased by nearly 65 percent over 2015, Metro police records show.

The precinct — one of seven in Nashville — encompasses the greater downtown area and includes Lower Broadway which has high pedestrian volume and low pedestrian space. City officials say about 15,000 vehicles per day average that section of downtown.

Just this week, a woman was struck and injured by a Ford pick-up truck downtown near 7th Avenue North and Charlotte in front of the Tennessee Supreme Court building.

Pedestrian struck by car in downtown Nashville

Pedestrian safety in the growing Nashville city is a priority for Mayor Megan Barry's administration. Last year, Metro Public Works installed Nashville's first pedestrian scramble — or Barnes Dance — diagonal sidewalks on Broadway between Second and Fifth Avenues North.

In addition, a stretch of Lower Broadway underwent a makeover in the fall that created more space for patrons and made downtown Nashville’s tourist district more walkable — street furniture and bollards were added to separate pedestrian areas from traffic.

"Our choices every time we get in a car matter," said Nora Kern, executive director of Walk Bike Nashville. "We can't continue to just wag our fingers at people for being in the way without also acknowledging the fact that drivers are frequently at fault for not yielding, driving too fast, or being distracted."

"Many of our streets lack frequent crosswalks or anyway to get across the street in a safe and efficient fashion," Kern said.

Of the 84 incidents last year in the downtown area, 21 were hit-and-run crashes. Nearly 60 percent of them took place in daylight, police department data shows.

Last year, police cited 41 drivers for pedestrian right-of-way violations in the Central Precinct — up 11 from the year prior.

Data shows officers have cited dozens of people at crosswalks in and around Vanderbilt's campus — particularly near the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital. Other ticket hot spots are at 11th Avenue North and Broadway and at 14th Avenue and Demonbreun near Music Row.

Germantown resident Regina Seider said she crosses Sixth Avenue North and Jefferson Streets each morning about 9 a.m. and watches cars whiz by, nearly always failing to yield.

"People speed and there is not a wide enough buffer," the 50-year-old said of the intersection located a few blocks from First Tennessee Park. "It makes me nervous that one lane will stop, but cars whip around to the other lane almost hitting me when I am actually crossing. People are blatantly breaking the law regarding pedestrian safety."

Seider said she wasn't surprised a report released last month from Smart Growth America ranked Nashville as the 37th most dangerous city for walkability, a drastic change from being ranked the 15th most dangerous in 2014.

The report examined pedestrian safety in 104 metro areas, each state and Washington, D.C., and the ranking is based on calculations that include the number of walking commuters and pedestrian deaths. According to the report, 209 pedestrians were fatally struck by vehicles in Nashville in a 10-year period through 2014.

Metro police records show one person died in the Central Precinct that year after being struck at Church Street and 7th Avenue North.

The most recent pedestrian fatality in the downtown area took place in November 2015 when a pick-up truck crossing Charlotte Avenue at 5th Avenue North hit 52-year-old Robert E. Stier, who lived on Charlotte Avenue.

​According to police, the driver of the truck entered the intersection under a green traffic light as Stier was attempting to cross Charlotte Avenue in the rain by weaving in between stopped vehicles outside of a crosswalk.

Pedestrian struck, killed in downtown Nashville

Nashville walkability ranking improves, death toll stays near 210

Mayor Megan Barry recently signed an order which sets a goal of achieving zero traffic-related deaths on Nashville’s streets.

The new WalkNBike Master Plan — a final draft currently out for public comment — outlines specific strategies for how Nashville might address five Es for improving safety: engineering (design of the physical infrastructure itself), education (pedestrian/motorist awareness on the rules of the road), encouragement (a local culture supportive of walking and biking), enforcement and evaluation (planning for walking and biking as a safe, viable transportation option).

Kelly Brockrman, Metro Public Works spokeswoman, said the mayor's transportation and infrastructure team plan to evaluate each of the program's recommendations throughout 2017 to determine best next steps.

"In the downtown core, a number of pedestrian-related improvements have been made in previous years, including expanded pedestrian access on Broadway and innovative crosswalk designs at a number of intersections," Brockman said. "Public Works and Codes departments are currently undergoing a comprehensive review of their permitting processes, with a specific eye towards how the city might strengthen its sidewalk and street closure permitting to safely accommodate pedestrian and cyclist access throughout an ongoing construction boom."

In addition, Barry recently appointed a representative from Stop! Take Notice — students and faculty at Hume-Fogg inspired by the death of Elena Zamora who are working to promote pedestrian safety downtown — to her Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

"We believe these cumulative efforts will have an overall positive impact on pedestrian safety downtown and throughout Nashville," Brockman said.

A tractor-trailer fatally struck 17-year-old Zamora on Dec. 19, 2013 in downtown Nashville.

In June, Governor Bill Haslam signed the “Elena Zamora Memorial Act” into law, memorializing Zamora, a Hume Fogg High School student, who was struck in a crosswalk. The truck driver received a $500 fine which had been the maximum penalty under the law.

This law now makes the penalty for failure to yield the right of way resulting in death a Class A misdemeanor which is a $2,500 fine and/or 11 months, 29 days in jail.

Man pleads guilty in crash that killed Hume-Fogg junior

Morrison still looks behind her when she treks across downtown intersections

"I still cross but I have anxiety," said Morrison, who said she was out of work for nearly three months after the accident and to this day still suffers from stiffness and balance issues.

Regardless, she said, she's not angry at the driver that hit her.

"She had a green light, I had a walk signal. She just didn't see us," said Morrison, who said it is confusing to drivers sometimes. "To me, that's the biggest problem... that drivers can turn while pedestrian are crossing. I think they need to re-time the traffic lights — let pedestrian cross so they're not worried about a car hitting them."

She also wants drivers to be more attentive in high-traffic pedestrian areas — especially the downtown entertainment district.

"Drivers are so aggressive and in a rush, and c'mon, let's face it. Everyone is playing on their phones," Morrison said. "Nashville is growing so fast, traffic is so bad and I think people just need to stay ahead of the game a little more."

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8072 and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

Vehicle crashes involving injured pedestrians in the Central Precinct

2016: 78

2015: 51

2014: 47

2013: 52

2012: 39

Pedestrian right-of-way violation citations in the Central Precinct

2016: 41

2015: 30

2014: 27

2013: 16

2012: 16



Vehicle pedestrian fatalities

2016: 0

2015: 2

Lafayette Street and 2nd Avenue North

Charlotte Avenue and 5th Avenue North

2014: 1

Church Street and 7th Avenue North

2013: 1

Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and Church Street

2012: 2

Interstate 24 east and Shelby Avenue

Rosa L. Parks Boulevard near Monroe Street

Source: Metro Nashville Police Department