A regular Source feature, Undercurrents explores issues, ideas and events as they develop beneath the surface in the Virgin Islands community.
Dressed for work, a woman gingerly picks her way down the Crown Mountain road on St. Thomas, walking in the narrow gut that runs along its edge, stepping up onto the sliver of shoulder when it appears here and there, then back into the gut as even that small buffer disappears.
It’s the morning rush hour and the woman is far from alone. Shortly before she appeared, a boy of about 10 walked down the same hill, escorting two younger girls in school uniforms, his little sisters, perhaps. After them came two older girls wearing high school uniforms. A few minutes later, a man.
From 7 to 8 each weekday morning, children and adults make their way down the sidewalk-less hill and into town. Beside them, inches away, is a steady stream of cars and trucks, their drivers and passengers also headed into the day.
“It’s dangerous,” said a pedestrian who did not want her name used. “I always keep my bag on the right side (next to the traffic) so if they hit, they’ll hit my bag, not me.”
“We need a sidewalk,” said Winston Liburd, who lives in the Towers apartments and regularly walks up and down the hill. He’s had a few close calls, when drivers are going fast or “not looking where they’re going,” he said.
Crown Mountain’s is just one of the many, many roads throughout the Virgin Islands that attract pedestrians but make no accommodation for them.
In some areas, such as along St. Thomas’ Weymouth Rhymer Highway just west of Fort Mylner, or on the nearby Donoe Bypass, it’s as if someone is playing a practical joke: There’s a sidewalk, but it ends without warning in the middle of nowhere.
In the case of the heavily trafficked Rhymer highway, a sidewalk on the north side of the road takes up just about the same place the one on the south leaves off, so theoretically a pedestrian could cross the street and keep going. But there’s no safe way to cross – no light, not even a crosswalk. 
A little up the road at the five-lane intersection that includes the main entrance to Tutu Park Mall, pedestrians encounter another familiar problem: walk lights that often don’t work.
Personal experience revealed several years ago that no “walk” signal is programmed into the automatic traffic cycle and the call buttons that would allow a pedestrian to manually enter a “walk” segment were broken. An inspection several weeks ago indicated the same situation. Whether the lights have worked in between those times is unclear. The Department of Public Works has the responsibility for maintaining traffic signals.
In a phone interview early this month, DPW Commissioner Darryl Smalls said he didn’t know the status of the lights at the Tutu intersection but would check. He has not responded to numerous follow up calls.
However, he said the territory is making progress toward becoming more pedestrian-friendly. Upgrading existing sidewalks and constructing new ones “has been an initiative of the department.”
V.I. Fatality Rate Among Highest in U.S.
Improvements can’t come too soon as far as Carmen Miray Marcano is concerned. The director of the USVI Office of Highway Safety said traffic accidents involving pedestrians are frequent in the territory, and often it’s a case of hit-and-run. Most are speed-related, some involve alcohol, and in many instances the area where the accident occurs is poorly lit, she said.
Moreover, the chances of a fatality resulting from the accident appear to be worse in the Virgin Islands than in any state in the country.
National statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show the number of U.S. traffic accidents resulting in pedestrian injuries hovering around 60,000 per year, and the number of pedestrian deaths at about 4,000 annually.
A state-by-state report posted on the website lists the number of fatalities per 100,000 population for each of the 50 states and for Puerto Rico in 2010. Nebraska’s number is the lowest, at .44 deaths per 100,000 people. Puerto Rico’s is the highest at 2.71.
The V.I. is not included in the report, but figures from Miray’s office for 2010 show its rate was more than twice as high as Puerto Rico’s. There were six pedestrian deaths in the Virgin Islands that year (four on St. Croix, two on St. Thomas and none on St. John) in a total population of approximately 100,000.
Percentages can be misleading when dealing with such small numbers; a single accident involving two or three fatalities can tip the scales and make comparisons unreliable. However, the statistics from the USVI Office of Highway Safety indicate a consistent pattern of high rates in the territory in recent years.
The office has the numbers starting in 2008. That year, there were three pedestrian deaths; in 2009, there were five; in 2010, six; in 2011, two; in 2012, six; and in 2013, four. Already this year, there have been two.
The totals by island, from January 2008 to the present, are 17 on St. Croix; 10 on St. Thomas, and one on St. John.
Nationally in 2010, 88 percent of all accidents involving pedestrians occurred under normal weather conditions, indicating that they were the result of one or more type of human error and thus might have been prevented. Most – 68 percent – happened at night, so poor visibility would seem to be a factor, and 79 percent happened in areas other than an intersection.
Alcohol was a factor in almost half the accidents, according to the federal report, but interestingly, it was more often the pedestrian (33 percent) than the driver (14 percent) who had been drinking before the accident.
Progress for Pedestrians
The local government’s commitment to improving conditions for pedestrians is made easier by the fact that the federal government has made pedestrian and cyclist safety a priority, and all federal highway aid includes money for sidewalks.
Smalls ticked off a long list of projects undertaken since 2007 – at the beginning of the current administration – that include sidewalks installed, or repaired, and a few planned for the near future. Among them, the Christiansted boardwalk, and Anna’s Hope on St. Croix; the stretch from Ivanna Eudora Kean High School to the Red Hook ferry dock and marine terminal; from the Bournfield Fire Station to Brewers Beach; in Long Bay from the Lockhart Shopping Center all the way round to the Lucinda Millin Home; from Crown Bay to the Waterfront, Pollyberg, and much of downtown Frederiksted and Christiansted.
All the projects are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, Smalls said. Most were federally funded, but some were completed with local funds.
Soon “you’re going to see raised crosswalks,” he added. There already are two in Red Hook, and one is coming on the Waterfront on St. Thomas. “It’s a traffic calming device” rather like a speed bump, and they will be marked with signs to alert drivers.
Safety Reminders
The Federal Highway Administration offers these tips for safety on the road:
– Drivers must yield the right of way to pedestrians; this includes when making a turn at an intersection;
– Pedestrians should use crosswalks; if a vehicle is parked near the crosswalk, be sure to look around it for oncoming traffic;
– When walking at night, carry a flashlight and wear reflective clothing, or at the least, avoid dark clothing;
– “It is much safer to walk on a sidewalk, but if you must walk in the street, walk facing traffic.”
