Information About the Crash
The February, 2025 Administrator’s report listed a pedestrian crash at the intersection of S. Main and Hill that resulted in a serious injury.
AAPD released the UD-10 report and case report to CIAA in March, 2025. The UD-10 narrative describes a vehicle headed south on S. Main and striking a pedestrian, who was crossing Main from east to west.
Excerpt from the UD-10 report.
CIAA visited the site of the crash on March 25, 2025 and collected the following images.
View of the S. Main/Hill intersection from the perspective of the crossing pedestrian.
View of the S. Main/Hill intersection from the perspective of the driver.
The incident report includes a statement from a witness who said that he saw the driver proceeding south through the intersection with a green signal as the pedestrian walked west toward the intersection. The driver stated that she drove south through the intersection with a green signal and did not see the pedestrian until the crash.
Another witness said that before the crash, a person, later identified as the injured pedestrian, had entered his unlocked apartment, and that she appeared to be intoxicated and was non-verbal. This witness’ description indicates that the pedestrian was distressed, but without any other information it is unlikely that an observer could determine what caused her behavior. In other words, based on the information in the reports, we don’t know if the pedestrian was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the crash happened.
Recommendations
Evaluation of This Crash By Transportation Experts
The Transportation Engineering staff of the City of Ann Arbor needs 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 and a speed study.
Slow it Down
As has been recommended in this blog for many other crash locations, the speed of traffic on Main should be lowered by changing the design. The city’s Transportation Plan describes this as likely the most effective approach to improving traffic safety in Ann Arbor.
Making a mistake or a bad decision shouldn’t result in a serious injury, as it did in this case. We don’t know what caused this pedestrian’s distressed behavior before the crash, and more importantly, it’s not relevant. Any number of circumstances can place a person in traffic at the wrong time, and whether those circumstances include just a simple bad choice about when to cross, suffering from a health emergency, or being completely shithouse drunk, no one deserves death or serious injury as a result. We need a transportation system that prioritizes safety for users, even the ones who make mistakes.
Unfortunately, when traffic going 30 MPH or more mixes with pedestrians in dense residential areas like S. Main, crashes often do result in serious injuries. This needs to change.