- A man and his dog were hit on Redwood Road, sparking safety concerns.
- Jeffrey Wood and advocates urged improvements at the 500 N. Redwood intersection.
- Sweet Streets and UDOT acknowledged safety issues and proposes design changes to reduce risks.
SALT LAKE CITY — After a man and his dog were hit in a crosswalk on Redwood Road, that man and advocates called Wednesday for improvements at that intersection, as well as the entire Redwood corridor as it passes through the city.
Jeffrey Wood, who lives next to the road, said he was in the crosswalk at 500 North and heading east across Redwood Road with his partner and their dogs Tuesday after 5 p.m. A car was westbound in the left turn lane to head south.
"We hit the walk sign to make sure we were walking when it was appropriate," Wood said in an interview with KSL. "We received the 'go,' and we started to cross the intersection and, being familiar with the intersection, we were watching the driver in that left hand turn lane. It looked like the driver initially was going to stop and surprised us with an acceleration, so I took my arm and waved it in the air and yelled, but it was too late, and he hit me and my dog."
Video from Wood's home surveillance camera documented the collision.
Wood said he was still suffering soreness and stiffness Wednesday, and his dog's injuries resulted in a $3,200 vet bill, but he was grateful to be able to talk about what happened.
"Over the time of the past several years, I've witnessed several auto-pedestrian accidents here," Wood said. "We've had several close calls. If you were to speak with anyone in this community, they'll all say they've had close calls with almost getting hit."
While he noted some improvements made in the area by the Utah Department of Transportation, he said more could be done to make things simpler for drivers at the 500 N. Redwood Road intersection.
"They're just inattentive because they're accustomed to a traffic pattern that doesn't have anything coming out of the (Wingate) community," Wood said. "They immediately don't see a car, they think they're free to go and then they're surprised with a pedestrian, which is what happened to me."
Sweet Streets Salt Lake City has also called for safety improvements along the Redwood corridor.
The group records and tracks deaths and injuries on its "traffic violence map," and it has noted what it characterizes as a concerning line of crashes straight down Redwood Road.
"It's dangerous, and the data backs that up," said Sweet Streets treasurer Julian Jurkoic.
Jurkoic said he believed conditions and the configuration of Redwood Road encourages drivers to travel faster, which can lead to hazardous outcomes in collisions with pedestrians.
"(Redwood Road) is designed using outdated design principles that say every road should be designed like a freeway," Jurkoic said. "When you take that and you apply it to a surface-level city street where cars are turning on and off, where people are working, walking around, living — there's a lot more conflict on a city street than there is on a freeway."
Jurkoic said the group ideally would like to see changes along Redwood Road and other major state roads that include slower speeds, narrower lanes and, in some cases, fewer lanes.
He said he also advocates for more alternative transit options.
"There are certainly a lot of good people at UDOT, and I think everybody is trying to do what they think is best," Jurkoic said. "It seems to me that UDOT is taking steps in the right direction, and I'd love to encourage that and see that continue, but at the same time it is a slow-to-change apparatus."
UDOT spokesperson John Gleason said in the department's review specifically of 500 N. Redwood Road that the intersection has seen 22 crashes with four involving pedestrians since January 2021.
He said the department is always looking to make safety improvements where it can, and it has at the 500 North intersection, including to the pedestrian accesses and striping.
"Safety — it's the most important thing that we do," Gleason said. "Anytime there is a crash — a serious crash, a fatal crash — we will look at it to see if there is anything from an engineering standpoint that we can do to possibly improve safety out there, but we also need people to do their part as well and watch out for each other."
Wood said he had been in regular contact with UDOT since the first auto-pedestrian collision he witnessed, and he also acknowledged some improvements had been made.
"We've got a sign that's up on the traffic pole now that says, you know, 'yield to pedestrians' with the left hand turn arrow," Wood said.
He said he would also like to see more changes made, and he hoped something worse would not happen to someone else.
"(There is) definitely, you know, some opportunity for some unhappy autoped incidents if we're not careful," Wood said.
