Pedestrian killed was fourth hit on stretch of Algonquin Road in a year
In an earlier version of this story, the headline incorrectly stated that four pedestrians had been hit along this stretch of Algonquin Road in Mount Prospect in a month. The correct timeframe is one year.
Since March of 2014, four pedestrians have been hit by vehicles along the same short section of Algonquin Road in Mount Prospect, an area that has seen crashes occur more than 13 times more frequently than elsewhere in the village.
Despite the troubling statistics, punctuated by last month's death of a man struck by a hit-and-run driver, village leaders say warnings to pedestrians often go unheeded, and the authority to reduce drivers' speeds is out of their hands.
Mount Prospect police said the March 22 fatal hit-and-run was one of 138 crashes since March 1, 2014, on the 2,000-foot stretch of Algonquin Road between Briarwood Drive and Busse Road.
There were about 1,700 crashes on the rest of the village's 165 miles of road over that time, meaning a typical mile saw just 10.3 crashes. That's about 13 times lower than the rate of crashes on the stretch of Algonquin between Briarwood and Busse.
The road corridor features an abundance of commercial destinations - including two strip malls, several restaurants, and a gas station - and about 20 surrounding apartment buildings, leading to a significant amount of foot traffic across Algonquin Road.
But there are only three painted crosswalks in the area, at Briarwood Drive, Dempster Street and Busse Road.
Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a 16-year-old Rolling Meadows High School student, admits he worried for his safety while crossing the road adjacent to the Briarwood Plaza Shopping Center recently.
"The lights are far from the entrance and it is dangerous because cars speed by and they don't even stop when they see us crossing," Gonzalez said.
Mount Prospect police officer Greg Sill said the department has identified the area as a place to focus traffic enforcement efforts, including watching for distracted drivers and speeders. However, he said, even drivers traveling at the 45 mph set by the Illinois Department of Transportation might be going too fast to avoid an accident.
IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said the state agency is in the process of completing a detailed review of the speed limit on that stretch of road.
"I would say safety is our top priority at IDOT," he said. "We are committed to working with all local stakeholders if there are concerns and see if there are any remedies."
Dave Strahl, Mount Prospect's acting village manager, said the village has made other efforts to improve safety along the road. Federal funding has been used to add more street lighting, and officials have worked to promote crossing the busy street safely. A sign installed outside the Briarwood Plaza Shopping Center encourages pedestrians in English and in Spanish to cross at the crosswalks.
The village also conducts street safety programs at local schools and at the village-run Community Connections Center, a neighborhood outreach center in the Crystal Court strip mall along Algonquin Road, Sill said.
But Strahl said too often pedestrians cross the road at locations without a crosswalk or against traffic signals.
"Unfortunately, efforts to not cross don't always get heeded, even if there are crosswalks," he said.
Crossing the street outside the crosswalk is against the law, but Sill said officers do not hand out many jaywalking tickets to pedestrians on Algonquin Road.
Strahl said he didn't see much point in ramping up jaywalking enforcement.
"What good would that yield?" he asked. "If somebody steps off a curb into traffic, no amount of ticket or warning is going to avoid an accident."
And walking in crosswalks doesn't guarantee safety.
Jose Felix Gonzalez-Navarette, the 46-year-old Arlington Heights man killed in last month's hit-and-run, was in the crosswalk when he was crossing Algonquin Road just east of Briarwood Drive. Surveillance video of the crash, however, appears to show he was crossing on a red light.
Police are still searching for the driver of the dark sedan that hit him.
Sill said making the road safer will require both drivers and pedestrians to follow the rules of the road.
"Hopefully everybody is doing their part so something like this doesn't happen again," he said.