It’s not the first time the lights have been involved in a fatality.
In September, an 80-year-old man failed to yield at one, and his car was stuck and he was killed.
And then there’s the death Tuesday of 23-year-old Kendrick Clark.
Now, we’ve heard from the city…
18“The yellow flashing arrow had absolutely nothing to do with this accident.”
They’ve even taken the unprecedented step of releasing a recording of the 71-year-old driver’s interview with police.
“I swear to God, I didn’t see the young man.”
So we decided to talk to a couple of experts.
Dr. dennis Andrews and Dr. Hal Watson are traffic safety professionals.
One thing they agree on…motorcycles are difficult to see, particularly for the elderly.
But Andrews is confused about the lights themselves.
“You’re telling the people,’ he says, “it’s OK to cross over but be careful. When they could just very easily stop the upcoming traffic with a red light. And have a solid green light for everybody to empty out the left turn lane into the mall.”
And the city’s release of the interview with driver Helen Turner especially without her knowledge left him appalled.
“Yeah, and they revealed it only because, their position is…see, she knew what it was. It had nothing to do with this accident,” Andrews told us. “They’re trying to wash their hands of it by releasing that.”
Watson says though, it’s a tradeoff.
“Safety really is acceptance of the risk.” He concluded.