Police officers will more actively enforce a pedestrian safety law adopted in 2018, according to the Springfield Police Department.
An announcement Oct. 5, followed the death of Todd A. Tennison, who was struck by a tractor-trailer turning onto North Kansas Expressway while Tennison was sitting on the ground near the road on Sept. 29. Tennison died from his injuries on Oct. 1. The driver of the tractor-trailer has been identified, according to Springfield Police Department spokesperson Cris Swaters, but the case remains an active investigation.
“In the wake of the fatality earlier this week, this effort’s goal is to protect pedestrians and drivers through education and enforcement, and help prevent another tragic incident,” Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said in the Oct. 5 news release announcing the enforcement effort.
However, Williams told the Hauxeda via email that he was planning to launch more active enforcement of the pedestrian safety ordinance prior to the recent death.
The pedestrian safety ordinance was passed by the City Council in 2017 and went into effect in January 2018, following the completion of the Street and Intersection Pedestrian Safety Study. The study authors examined pedestrian data and provided recommendations on how to improve safety for pedestrians and drivers.
What’s in the law
Springfield city code (Article VII, Section 106-455) prohibits the following, with exceptions:
- Crossing an arterial roadway anywhere except crosswalks, where pedestrian-control signals are located if there is no crosswalk, or at an intersection if there is neither a pedestrian-control signal or a crosswalk;
- Being on a median in an arterial intersection unless you are in the process of legally crossing the road;
- An occupant exiting a vehicle while in an arterial intersection unless in the event of an emergency;
- Approaching a vehicle in an arterial roadway unless it is legally parked;
- Vehicle occupants engaging in distribution conduct with a pedestrian in an arterial roadway.
“Arterial roadway” refers to a roadway with at least a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit, and/or an average of 15,000 cars a day and the relevant designation by a traffic engineer.
In addition, the ordinance restricts pedestrians from crossing the road between one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, and enables officers to fine pedestrians and drivers a minimum of $100 for violating right-of-way rules in crosswalks.
Under the new directives, officers working on a voluntary overtime basis will focus solely on enforcing the ordinance. Sign-ups for the overtime shifts began on Oct. 9, according to Williams.
“Officers have discretion when they approach these situations, but the focus of this directed patrol is enforcing the ordinance through citations and arrests, as necessary,” Williams told the Daily Citizen.
Five-year effort to make Springfield safer for pedestrians
More proactive enforcement of the ordinance comes alongside the SGF Yields campaign, the city’s pedestrian safety program that launched in 2017. SGF Yields has received state and national recognition, receiving the 2022 Exceptional Performance in Safety from the American Public Works Association and the Show Me Zero 2022 Southwest Regional Award at the Missouri Highway Safety and Traffic Conference.
While education and awareness are the two primary pillars of the program, which was created by the Public Works Department and the Department of Public Information, SPD has engaged in driver yield checks. The enforcement of the pedestrian safety ordinance will compliment SGF Yields, according to Williams.
In total, an average of 70 pedestrians are hit on Springfield roadways every year, with 28 deaths since the ordinance was adopted in 2018, according to Swaters. Three of those deaths have occurred in 2023.
On the evening of Oct. 5 — the day SPD announced it would more actively enforce the pedestrian safety ordinance — a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Sunshine Street and Robberson Avenue. The pedestrian was transported to a Springfield hospital and was in critical condition, but is now stable and expected to live as of Oct. 9, Swaters said.
