Black communities have been especially hard hit amid a national surge in traffic fatalities
Roosevelt Boulevard is an almost 14-mile maze of chaotic traffic patterns that passes through some of the city's most diverse neighborhoods and census tracts with the highest poverty rates. Driving can be dangerous with cars traversing between inner and outer lanes, but biking or walking on the boulevard can be even worse with some pedestrian crossings longer than a football field and taking four light cycles to cross.
The Biden administration also created funding for safety improvements, including the bipartisan infrastructure law and ato cities over the next five years. Federal officials have pledged to prioritize equity when making funding decisions in the wake of a disproportionate 23% jump in Black traffic fatalities in 2020.
Eva Gbaa has been impatient to see changes. Her 17-year-old nephew, John “JJ” Gbaa Jr., was killed in a November 2018 hit-and-run as he tried to cross Roosevelt while walking home after hanging out with friends. He was alone at the time and a lot of the circumstances of the crash were unknown. “He would say, ‘Auntie, when I graduate, I will go to college and then I will take care of you.’ But he never had the chance,” Eva Gbaa said, tamping down tears. “I hope, I hope they do something to make sure no family goes through this, so it doesn’t happen again.”
Sonia Szczesna, director of active transportation for the Tristate Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit transportation advocacy organization, said Black and brown communities and low-income communities are often the most impacted by high-fatality roads. Byrd, who co-founded the nonprofit advocacy group Families for Safe Streets, lobbied hard for the speed cameras, writing hundreds of personal letters to legislators telling them about her niece and her kids. The cameras went live at eight intersections in June 2020, but only after state legislation, a city ordinance and negotiations with the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which manages the program.
Byrd said Banks was the kind of mom and auntie who always had something planned. “At all of the family get-togethers, she would always get all the kids in a circle and have them playing games and doing dances, or she'd make up these little skits for them to do. She always had a plan and the kids always came first,” Byrd said.
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