MACON, Ga. — It typically stays pretty quiet on Ocmulgee East Boulevard.
“Other than cars,” Kim Yaughn said. “Sometimes you'll hear them racing up and down the road.”
The search is on for answers after Bibb County starts Pedestrian Safety Month with yet another deadly crash.
The death of 19-year-old Sabastian Lee Hack marks the 12th pedestrian death in the county for 2023.
Yaughn’s neighbor, Quantisha Dishmond, says where feet and wheels meet on the road is no place for a person to be.
“It's about four to five people that walk this road constantly,” Dishmond said. “Walking on this particular highway, I wouldn’t recommend. There's no sidewalks and no lighting. There’s no way for someone to walk on the side.”
In her 44th year here, Yaughn has never seen an accident but doesn't find the death of 19-year-old Sabastian Lee Hack surprising.
“You could see the white sheet running across the road and you just knew somebody had gotten hit. I hate that it happened and I hate that for his family,” she said.
Hack marks the 12th pedestrian death in 2023. It also serves as a reminder of the very issues Pedestrian Safety Month works to showcase.
“This month is about reminding people that there are an awful lot of people in Macon-Bibb County who care that we have such high numbers of people who die as a result of an accident,” Bibb Commissioner Elaine Lucas said. “As we work, it's very frustrating to continue to have deaths on our roadways."
Lucas, a member of Macon-Bibb's Pedestrian Safety Review Board, says they've worked hard to get more support over the years.
“The mayor has allocated $100,000 plus– the last two years– $500,000 in the budget, in addition to what would regularly be set aside for pedestrian safety because Macon-Bibb feels like this is an important issue. Our folks need to feel safe when walking or driving,” she said.
They’ve used it to fund more infrastructure projects like installing lights, pedestrian crossing areas, and re-striping the roads.
“We are there and we give our input as to what kind of pedestrian safety devices need to be put in place," Lucas said.
However, Lucas says it never seems like enough.
She says their long-term goal to combat high pedestrian death rates begins with the future generation.
“Those numbers are going to come down because we will have raised one generation who will have heard the campaigns for safety,” Lucas said.
However, in a perfect world, she says they need more time and money to build the sidewalks and lights that save lives.
“There's a process that you have to go through and sometimes it's slower than you would like for it to be. In a perfect world, there would be fewer deaths,” she said.
Lucas says the Pedestrian Safety Board is planning events throughout the month to raise awareness of road safety for motorists and pedestrians.
Their next event is Wednesday at 1389 Pio Nono Avenue for a "Pedestrian on the Move" campaign.
In July, we shared research from Consumer Affairs that said Macon drivers rank fourth in the nation on a list of cities with the worst drivers. They added the rate of fatal crashes in Macon is double the national average.
The study also looked at pedestrian deaths and Macon had 15 in 2021.