Thirty-four people died from traffic-related incidents inside Tulsa city limits in 2023, according to the Tulsa Police Department.
Nine of the deaths involved a pedestrian or a cyclist.
"There's more people on the road. There's more drivers. There's more people walking," said former Tulsa Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (TBPAC) chairman Mitch Drummond.
Then-City Counselor G.T. Bynum started TBPAC in the 2000s, Drummond said.
Drummond and current committee member Andrew Turner warn their research suggests the fatality numbers will likely spike during October and November.
The two spoke to 2 News Monday at 51st Street and Peoria Avenue by Aero bus stops, the exact site of a deadly collision Oct. 13.
During the conversation, we witnessed several people dodge traffic by illegally walking across the street.
"I know that we can actually do better in street designs. We see other cities and other countries do better in a transportation system design," Drummond said, throwing blame not at pedestrians but at the street designs that make it impractical to walk.
True Phillips said the lack of crosswalks between strip malls and bus stops is what made her take the dangerous walk across the street with her baby in hand.
"It is dangerous out here, but I mean, that's just life. You just got to be careful," Phillips said.
There is a crosswalk one-fifth of a mile down the street at the I-44 frontage road, but Sarah Heflin said she jay-walks to get to her bus stop because she got hit by a car using that crosswalk.
"People have gotten off the highway, and they're going so fast that we've had to dart across the road or dart back because we're going to get hit," Heflin said.
"I think that's an example of how we can design our transportation system differently."
One success story Drummond and Turner reference as a possible action for the city to replicate is the walkability and bicycle lane work done on 11th Street along many Route 66 landmarks. Turner said it has noticeably improved driver, cyclist, and pedestrian safety.
"The severity of car crashes is down," Turner said. "The number of people killed on 11th Street is down. The dollar lost to insurance companies from the car crashes is down. The number of car crashes is down."
In the short term, Drummond said awareness is key for any who go on the road.
"Watch what other people are doing around you. They may make mistakes. Somebody may trip. Somebody may fall," he said. "Being ready to hit the breaks can save a life."
Drummond added he voted against Mayor G.T. Bynum's Improve Our Tulsa bond measure, which passed this August, saying it largely ignored work needed to boost city walkability.
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