'We have to do something:' Spotlight on reckless driving again after fatal hit-and-run
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee police continue investigating a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a 60-year-old man on Sunday, June 20.
The man was struck near N. 10th St. and W. Walnut St. around 9:50 p.m. The man suffered life-threatening injuries and later died on scene.
Police said the suspect vehicle is a four-door sedan.
On top of that, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner tweeted Monday, June 21 that it had investigated seven motor vehicle accidents in the last seven days.
MCMEO has investigated 7 MVA fatalities in the last week. https://t.co/AuD5XsAUwT
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) June 21, 2021
The incident and uptick in fatal accidents has sparked renewed concern among community leaders.
"People are dying on our streets. We have to do something," activist Tracey Dent told CBS 58. "Because like I said before, what we have in place right now is not working."
Dent believes tougher penalties for reckless driving offenders could help deter bad driving behavior.
"We need to start looking at these laws and maybe we need to increase everything and then we need to have the judges or court system enforce them," Dent said.
The issue has been spread across Milwaukee for years.
"We've got to have a citywide and comprehensive approach to try and reduce car speeds," Alderman Nik Kovak said.
Kovak said he woke up Monday morning to messages from constituents and neighbors about a crash on N. Humboldt Blvd. that damaged multiple cars. No one was hurt, according to witnesses. Residents in the area want to see quick results to address the issue on the boulevard.
"This street was already on our list that we were going to be making a major investment in," Kovac told CBS 58 in an interview. "The neighbor was thinking, they don't want to wait the year that it's going to take to reconstruct the street."
Kovac said short-term solutions like temporary bump-outs help, but it will take longer-term plans like youth driver education, as well as enhanced street design, to help lower reckless driving numbers.
"That education piece will take years to really notice a difference on the streets, so really the big solution is engineering, trying to redesign our streets to make it really hard to speed," Kovac said.