HOUSTON – The Harris County District Attorney’s Office joined local law enforcement agencies Thursday to introduce a new initiative that will promote crosswalk safety and protect pedestrians and cyclists.
Harris County’s top law-enforcement officials have launched an educational campaign to coincide with a heightened enforcement effort to combat the traditional holiday uptick in the number of deaths and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists in area crosswalks.
Those who were in attendance included:
- Kim Ogg, Harris County District Attorney
- Erik Burse, Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant, and
- Cody Eberhardt, the son of a cyclist named Keri Guillory who was killed in 2017.
“This is unacceptable and law enforcement has joined together in both an awareness and enforcement campaign to stop roadway deaths,” Ogg said in a news conference Thursday. “We’ve got a combination of old laws and new laws to rely upon, and what you will see is a real effort by law enforcement to ensure that traffic laws are being enforced at the crosswalks and on the roadway.”
Ogg stressed the importance of pedestrians and cyclists having the opportunity to share roadways, even if no crosswalks are in the area.
“This means greater responsibility for our drivers,” Ogg said. “We know that Houston is car-centric and we know that we don’t have sidewalks in all of our unincorporated areas or even in the city of Houston, and so it is important, especially during this holiday season, we work together to ensure each other’s safety.”
Law enforcement officials also reminded Houston-area residents that new state laws allow drivers to be charged with felonies if they injure or kill someone in a crosswalk.
Some of the top factors that contribute to traffic crashes in Harris County, 36% of which she said are pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities, include:
- Drivers failing to yield the right of way
- Distracted drivers
- Drivers speeding
“You know, we just can’t afford to be on our phones when it could cost somebody their life,” Ogg said.
Eberhardt spoke on behalf of his mother and another cyclist named Craig Tippit. Guillory and Tippit were killed in March 2017 when a driver plowed into them while they were riding bikes during a charity event. The driver then left the scene.
- READ MORE: Family speaks after cyclist hit, killed
“Going back to the day, I sat in my office this morning and I just relived the day,” Eberhardt said. “I mean I sat there this morning and reviewed the notes to come speak to everybody today and I said, ‘Look, it’s never easy.’ We’re six years from the time of her death and it gets harder to sit here and I think about my 2-year-old son that cannot see his grandmother and has to walk down a hall and look at her picture and blow her a kiss and that never gets easier from a victim’s standpoint.”
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