A 16-year-old girl was struck by a hit-and-run motorist on Cane Run Road. The collision took place around 7:00a.m. on Tuesday, March 1, but news reports give conflicting locations of the crash.
The incident was reported by WDRB, which said the girl was struck at Cane Run and Wilkie Road, and WLKY, which said the collision happened at Cane Run and Clarinet Drive near the Lake Dreamland Fire Department. Those two sites are about 1.2 miles apart.
The unidentified girl suffered non-life-threatening injuries to her arm and leg. She was taken to Kosair Children’s Hospital.
The victim was trying to cross Cane Run Road at this location, the site of several TARC bus stops, multi-family apartment buildings, and single-family homes, when she was struck. Witnesses did not get a good look at the motorist’s vehicle before he or she drove away.
There are sidewalks in the area in various states of design and repair, but no crosswalks exist in the vicinity.
In fact, to cross in a crosswalk would require walking north to the intersection of Cane Run and South Crums Lane at Shanks Lane and back—that’s a distance of 3,560 feet. To the south, you’d have to walk to Cane Run at the intersection of Rockford Lane and Lees Lane and back—a whopping 8,090 feet or about a mile and a half.
Cane Run carries a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour, but is designed like a divided highway that promotes much higher speeds. Several people have been struck and killed along this street in the past couple of years.
It’s irresponsible design to have transit stops along a street like this without providing a way for people using transit to cross the street to their destination. Cane Run Road is dangerous by design.
Louisville is currently in the midst of a three-year pedestrian safety campaign called Look Alive Louisville. The federally funded program is in response to the city’s above average pedestrian fatality and collision rate.
I have conducted and assisted with quite a few Walkability Assessments in Louisville neighborhoods. The scariest and least pedestrian-friendly was the Cane Run Road assessment between Shanks Lane and Lees Lane. As your article indicates, it is 1 1/2 mile stretch with no cross walks going across Cane Run Road. The paint indicating the crosswalks on the side streets is non-existent, the side walks are very narrow (some only 2 feet wide) and in need of repair, the over growth on vacant land and properties during the warm months impedes good visibility and the traffic goes way beyond the speed limit. It is like walking on a path next to a freeway. This area truly needs to be walkable for pedestrians, so that they can safely gain access to the TARC stops, school bus stops, local amenities, schools and the Lake Dreamland Fire Department. This dangerous issue needs to be addressed sooner than later!!!