u/StrongTownsIndy

Content Warning: Death, traffic violence.

On May 28th, 2024, 47-year old Roy Wayne Hodges Jr. was walking along West Washington street when he was killed in a hit-and-run crash by an SUV.

Like many developments in Indianapolis, West Washington Street is designed to be exclusively traversed by automobile. During the interstate construction of the 1970s, we re-tooled our streets to serve as high-speed connections to the 465 loop, such as Lafayette Road, Crawfordsville Road, and Southeastern Avenue. In doing so, these streets were converted to ‘stroads’–the Frankenstein of city development. Historically, streets have been places where people gather, wealth is accrued, and community is built. Roads, on the other hand, are high-speed connections between places. When streets and roads mix, you get stroads; places that fail to move cars as quickly as roads, and aren’t as safe for people to gather on as streets.

From an engineering perspective, stroads are designed first and foremost to prioritize the safety of those driving. They have wide lanes, high speed limits, no sidewalks, and no obstructions (such as trees) along the side of the road. This design allows for drivers to make mistakes while moving at high speeds without dire consequences to their own safety.

Stroads run through many of Indianapolis’s most impoverished neighborhoods. This causes a spiral of damage, as many of the people in these places don’t have the ability to drive, or the money to afford a car. The people that live along stroads are subject to all of car-centric development’s harms: poor air quality, unsafe & inaccessible travel, and disconnected neighborhoods to name a few.

People will always need to walk places. When they do, a safe route isn’t always possible. To a pedestrian moving in the direction of West Washington street, there are no safe routes. Without shoulders or sidewalks, one must walk in the road, the occasional patch of grass, or along the side of a steep ditch. There is no calmer street that runs parallel to West Washington Street.

This is the reality that Roy Hodges Jr. faced the night of May 28th, when he attempted to travel along West Washington Street without using a car. When he was struck, the driver of the SUV did not stop to check on Roy. Even more disturbingly, Ray’s body was struck by two more cars before IMPD was alerted. So how could anyone involved be so callous as to not even stop their car to check on a human being that was dying?

Cars create an isolating experience–a separation between yourself and human beings around you. It’s easy to become numb to people around you when they can be reduced to little more than a dot on the horizon in a matter of moments. You’ll never be given the opportunity to hear their voices, learn their names, or see their faces. So what’s left to attach personhood to?

When tragedy strikes in our community, IMPD is often quick to remind us that driving is a privilege; that it isn’t something that everyone should require access to. But when driving isn’t an option, what safe choices do we have to get around places like West Washington Street?

Strong Towns Indianapolis is a local group of passionate advocates dedicated to building walkable communities, promoting sustainable development, and taking small steps right now to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone that travels through them.

You can join the local conversation by following us on social media, or joining our Discord server.