In the glinting light of Monday morning, an older man walking his dog stepped into West 26th Avenue to cross the street and was hit by two cars, receiving critical injuries. Fewer than 15 minutes later across town, a pedestrian at East Hampden Avenue and South Poplar Street was struck by a car and later died.
The two accidents underscore the danger facing pedestrians on Denver streets, even as the city is working to implement a “Pedestrian Master Plan” designed to make the pavement safer for walkers.
Residents along West 26th near Sloan’s Lake, though, said efforts in their neighborhood are lacking, that incomplete sidewalks, a dearth of marked crosswalks and speeding traffic make a dangerous car-pedestrian encounter almost inevitable.
“We’ve seen more near-misses on this corner than we have in years,” said resident Debbie Grieco, who lives two blocks from where the accident happened Monday morning at West 26th and Raleigh Street. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The first accident happened at 7:11 a.m., police say. There is no light or crosswalk at the intersection, and neighbors said it is likely that the rising sun was shining in eastbound drivers’ eyes. Denver police spokeswoman Leslie Branch-Wise said the drivers involved in the accident won’t be charged.
Neighbors identified the victim as Kenneth Huff and said he regularly walked his dog through the neighborhood, often stopping to chat. One neighbor called him a “sweet, lovely man.”
“I was always worried that he or his dog might get hit,” said Paul Hernandez, who often encountered Huff while walking his own dogs. “Where they cross the street there, it’s a busy road. But I wasn’t about to tell him not to do that.”
Huff, 72, was listed in critical condition at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
The second accident happened at 7:24 a.m. at East Hampden and South Poplar in southeast Denver. Branch-Wise said the victim, a woman, was pronounced dead at a hospital and that a suspect was at Denver Health Medical Center under a police hold on suspicion of vehicular homicide. The names of both were not released.
In 2004, Denver city officials created a Pedestrian Master Plan in the hopes of making the city more pedestrian-friendly. Among the ideas floated were the creation of designated pedestrian routes, improvement of crosswalks and other pedestrian-safety features and a possible fee to help repair the city’s sidewalks, which are technically the responsibility of individual homeowners.
Denver Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs said a traffic study of West 26th at Tennyson Street this year did not show a need for a traffic signal at the intersection because traffic rates had changed little since a 1999 study.
The city’s most dangerous intersections for pedestrians are also among its busiest, including Colfax Avenue and Broadway; East Colfax and Colorado Boulevard; and Federal Boulevard and West Evans Avenue, according to a map included in the pedestrian plan.
Statewide, pedestrian traffic fatalities appear to be declining. The 44 pedestrian deaths reported last year were the fewest since at least 1994, according to the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
But as the accidents Monday morning show, pedestrians are often only a couple of steps from danger.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
