Information About the Crash
Note: Update posted April 13, 2025 at end of this article.
A crash involving a pedestrian and a car was shared in an AAPD Facebook post on October 30th, the day after the incident. It was also covered in an article in MLive and reported in the pedestrian crash section of the November 18, 2024 City Administrator’s report.
AAPD released the UD-10 report to CIAA in November, 2024.
The UD-10 does not include many details about the crash or what led up to it. The direction in which the pedestrian was crossing Packard is not specified. The intersection is also drawn incorrectly; Packard and Arch meet at approximately 90 degrees, not at the oblique angle shown in the UD-10 diagram.
From the diagram, the driver appears to have been heading outbound (southeast) on Packard at the time of the collision. The pedestrian was using the crosswalk on the north side of the intersection.
Excerpt of UD-10
Google Maps view of the Packard and Arch intersection
CIAA first visited the site of the crash on October 30, and returned again on November 25 to capture additional photographs.
During the November 25 visit, photos of the intersection were collected. As seen in the photo, there are no crosswalk signs at the Arch intersection. The only markings at this crosswalk are the painted stripes in the crosswalks. The picture shows that the crosswalk markings on the pavement are almost completely invisible when they are washed out by the lights of oncoming vehicles. Utility poles on the south and east corners of the intersection block approaching pedestrians from the view of drivers on Packard. The intersection is lit by an overhead street light mounted to a utility pole on the south corner of the intersection.
During the October 30 visit, at approximately 7:30 PM, a steady stream of pedestrians crossing Packard in both directions was observed. Vehicle traffic was also very heavy at that time, with frequent groups of 4 or 5 vehicles at a time on Packard proceeding from the signals (at State and Wells) through the Arch intersection. Two near misses were observed during a 20 minute period. In both cases, northbound drivers on Packard overtook vehicles that were stopped in the northbound vehicle lane and yielding to pedestrians crossing Packard. In one instance, the driver passed between the yielding car and the curb, but came to an abrupt stop when they saw the pedestrian in the crosswalk. In a second incident, another driver passed a yielding vehicle on the left, encroaching in the southbound lane. This driver proceeded all the way through the intersection and the crosswalk, forcing the pedestrian to stop short at the center line of Packard.
Packard, looking in the outbound direction. The crosswalk pavement markings do not show in the glare of oncoming car headlights.
Packard, looking in the outbound direction. The headlights of oncoming cars make the pavement markings difficult to see. (Photo credit: Todd Marsee)
Recommendations
Evaluation of This Crash By Transportation Experts
The Transportation Engineering staff of the City of Ann Arbor need to evaluate this crash and recommend changes to prevent future incidents like this one. Any serious or fatal crash in the city should get this kind of scrutiny, with a focus on both quick, interim fixes and long term solutions. Their evaluation should include traffic counts of pedestrians and vehicles.
Improve Visibility
Night time visibility at this intersection is poor. As shown in the pictures from the site visits, the area is very dark, and the single street light does not adequately illuminate pedestrians who are in and approaching the intersection. The scant crosswalk markings are difficult to see when they are washed out by vehicle headlights. The crosswalks need more lighting and better markings to make them more obvious to approaching drivers.
According to Ann Arbor’s Crosswalk Design Guidelines, the pavement markings at Packard and Arch are the “Standard” treatment for this kind of intersection. Now that there is a crash history at this location, the intersection may qualify for the “Standard +” of yellow diamond crosswalk signs. Considering the amount of foot and car traffic at this intersection, crosswalk signs are the bare minimum that this intersection should have. In-lane signs would also help to increase visibility at this crosswalk.
Lastly, at least one of the utility poles should be moved to give drivers a clear view of approaching pedestrians. Considering the direction of travel of the vehicle and the leg of the intersection where the crash occurred, the obstruction by the utility pole does not appear to be a factor in this particular incident. Nonetheless, improving visibility by removing obstructions like this utility pole can only help improve this intersection.
Narrow the street
The UD-10 does not have many details on the crash; it doesn’t mention any of the illegal passing/overtaking behavior observed in the October 30 site visit. Passing a vehicle that is stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk is illegal in Ann Arbor and other municipalities that have adopted the Michigan Uniform Traffic Code (see page 16). Nonetheless, this behavior is not uncommon in Ann Arbor, and the two examples observed at this intersection are probably not isolated incidents. On the northwest leg of this intersection, the road is over 30 feet wide, with width for two vehicle lanes, two bike lanes, and one car parking lane. There is plenty of room here for an impatient driver to pass a car that has stopped for a pedestrian in the crosswalk. In-lane signs would effectively narrow the street and deter drivers from passing. In the long term, a bump-out could achieve the same result while also decreasing the crossing distance for users of the crosswalk.
Update posted April 13, 2025:
More information about the crash
A subsequent FOIA response from AAPD produced additional documents from the Packard/ Arch Crash, including the incident report which contains details of the crash investigation and reconstruction.
In the report, the driver of the vehicle asserted that the vehicle headlights were on and functioning at the time of the crash. The statement of a witness, AAATA driver Arthur Walker, Jr., says that the vehicle headlights were off when the crash occurred. A responding officer also included in the report that the headlight switch was in the off position when the vehicle was checked.
Also noted in the report is the result of a preliminary breathalyzer test of the driver that registered 0.000% BAC.
Camera footage supplied by AAATA after a FOIA request confirmed that the headlights were indeed off at the time of the crash. The existence of the camera footage was mentioned in the AAPD report, but no facts or description of the footage is included.
The additional facts from the incident report lead to a question of why a person would be driving without headlights on, well after sunset. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence. In 2016, Jason Torchinsky wrote about how LCD instrument cluster displays contribute to driver confusion about whether or not their headlights are on.
According to the police report, the driver left Blank Slate and was driving home on Packard when the incident occurred. It is possible that the street lighting of the downtown area and the interior illumination from the vehicle’s LCD display combined to give the false impression that the headlights were on. While this possible explanation cannot be confirmed with the information in the reports or the video, anyone who has driven at night recently knows that this driver would not be the only one to have made this mistake.
It’s also impossible to know how much unlit headlights contributed to this particular crash, but it’s safe to say that it’s better for night-time drivers on this dimly-lit section of Packard (and everywhere else) to have their headlights on.
What you can do
Have you ever mistakenly driven with your headlights off? Or maybe you did it and didn’t even notice that you did it? Here are a few things you can do to make sure that you don’t make this common mistake:
- If you have automatic headlamps on your vehicle, use that setting. If anyone else has been driving your vehicle, or if it has been in for service, check that the headlamps are back to the automatic setting
- Experiment by turning your headlamps off at night (while parked in a safe location). Note the difference in the instrument cluster and infotainment displays with the lights off and on so that you can easily detect when your own headlights are off.
- If another driver flashes their lights at you, check that your headlights are on and make sure that you aren’t being tricked by your vehicle’s interior lights and displays. .
- Make sure you know how your headlamps work. If you are unsure about how your headlamps work, or about the settings on the headlamp switch of your vehicle, read about it in the owner’s manual that came with your vehicle or by accessing the manual for your vehicle from this list of manufacturers.