Community pushes for pedestrian safety changes after deadly Ybor City crash

Community pushes for pedestrian safety changes after deadly Ybor City crash

People are asking the city to consider ways to improve safety in Ybor City, specifically on 7th Avenue where people congregate at night. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports.

YBOR CITY, Fla. - People are asking the city to consider ways to improve safety in Ybor City, specifically on 7th Avenue, where people congregate at night. 

What they're saying:

Some want to see retractable barriers at intersections to stop traffic on the weekends. 

"Why wouldn't you do that here?" Tampa resident Alexandra Lydic questioned.

"We need more police," Vic Sheeran, a longtime Ybor City resident, said.

This all started Saturday night when Taylor Aguilera, a pedestrian safety advocate, stood before the vigil crowd and multiple city councilors, asking what the elected officials there were doing to stop another tragedy from happening.

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"We need retractable barricades! We need you in City Hall to protect us from future tragedies like this," Aguilera said to the group.

Aguilera is not the only one asking for change.

"I definitely think that there should be the road closed off or some barricades or something," Lydic said. "There's so many people down here late at night and just with all the traffic and the drinking, it's not always the safe environment to have cars driving."

Others hope for better enforcement to get drivers to slow down.

"We need more police, you know, to stop, you know, watch the traffic, because sometimes there is speed," Sheeran said.

The other side:

The idea of retractable barriers is not without critics.

City Councilor Bill Carlson expects that plans to shut the street down will likely not be seriously considered because of other concerns held by public safety officials. He tells FOX 13 News he is against completely shutting down 7th Avenue to auto traffic at night but is in favor of installing bollards to protect pedestrians.

"It doesn't matter if the street's closed or not," Lydic said. "If you're, you know, looking for trouble, or you're in that position, it's kind of going to happen whether the streets are barricaded or not."

"The police cover with horses, you know, and push everything out," Sheeran said. "But [it would] be nice if the police coming over here, then we'll be happy."

When asked about infrastructure changes, a Tampa city official said, "That's something we'll look at."

"The city is constantly looking into ways to make 7th Avenue safe at night," Tampa Councilor Alan Clendenin said before the vigil. "We've had incidences down here before, we've had many community meetings, and we'll continue that process."

Councilor Naya Young is newly elected and represents District 5, where Ybor City is located.

"We want people to feel safe when they go out on a Friday night," Young said.

What's next:

It has been less than two days since the crash, so any potential legislative changes will take time.

Some cities have utilized other traffic-calming methods, including narrowing driving lanes, speed bumps, bump-outs on corners, and bollards on the sidewalk to prevent cars from jumping the curb.