ST. LOUIS – As traffic tragedies continue to pile up in the City of St. Louis, a surveillance camera caught reckless driving just outside the popular Crown Candy Kitchen restaurant around 8:00 a.m. Sunday.
The video showed six consecutive vehicles speeding through the four-way stop intersection in a span of 35 seconds.
During business hours, patrons are often lined up on the sidewalk, waiting for a booth to open in the restaurant.
“It’s insane. I don’t know what the answer is,” said Andy Karandzieff, owner of Crown Candy Kitchen. “All it takes is one person to lose control, jumps the curb. God forbid that ever happens. That terrifies me.”
Four people were killed early Sunday morning, and four others were critically injured when a vehicle plummeted from Grand to Forest Park Boulevard. Police said they blame reckless driving.
Just eight days earlier, reckless driving caused the downtown crash that led to 17-year-old Janae Edmondson losing both of her legs, according to the police.
A crash Saturday at Bates and Morganford left one dead and one critically hurt.
Investigators suspect high speed and a traffic signal pointed in the wrong direction as factors in the crash. The signal has had to be repositioned twice in five days, according to authorities.
Clark Roberts lives near the intersection. He said speeding and accidents are common. He’s been hit at the same location.
“It’s a lot of these young kids, driving these cars. They don’t really have experience behind the wheel,” Roberts said.”They think they can just, whew, run through (stop) lights.”
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, and Congresswoman Cori Bush, refer to what’s been going on as “traffic violence.”
This week, the mayor will approve a plan to address the city’s most dangerous spots for drivers and pedestrians. She calls the $40 million in ARPA funds going toward road safety changes, “the largest investment in road and pedestrian safety in the city’s history.”
Ward 3 Alderman Brandon Bosley, of north St. Louis, sponsored the bill the mayor will sign into law. The plan will include projects similar to the traffic-calming improvements that have indeed calmed reckless driving on Natural Bridge Avenue.
“When we continue to say ‘nothing’s being done, we’re not seeing anything’. Well, you’re going to see something,” Bosley said. “You can physically see something come out of this.”
He also echoed growing calls for stepped-up police enforcement of traffic laws.
“We have to also figure out in conjunction with the actual streets themselves being redesigned,” Bosley said. “How do we redesign our idea of patrolling those streets.”
He said work on the improvements should begin in the summer.