Pedestrian killed on East Washington Ave for the 6th time this year

MADISON, Wis. — Police said that a car on East Washington Avenue near Lien Road killed a pedestrian Monday night, making it the 6th such incident on East Wash 2021.

Police said that they were called to the intersection at around 8 p.m. Monday night. The man hit was taken to a hospital where he later died.

The growing number of deaths on East Washington Ave. this year has District 6 Alder Brian Benford beyond frustrated.

“My friends and I sometimes call it East Washington International Speedway. It’s just every day, throughout the day there are reckless and unsafe behaviors,” explained Benford.

Benford says he believes the city is taking the necessary steps to try and slow drivers down on East Wash. In Benford’s opinion, the issue is with drivers not changing their approach as well.

“I really commend them (City Officials) for really trying to address this issue but ultimately it comes down to the drivers that use East Washington Avenue,” said Benford.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway did respond for comment on this matter with the following statement:

“I have been keeping in close touch with Madison Police Department officials regarding last evening’s pedestrian fatality on East Washington Ave. It is my understanding that the driver of the vehicle involved is cooperating with officers. At this point, the incident is under investigation and it’s too early to determine a cause,” said Rhodes-Conway.

“In the face of rising fatalities locally and nationally, the City has been working for months to convince the public to slow down. MPD has greatly stepped up enforcement on the East Washington corridor with well over 2,500 warnings and citations issued. We lowered the speed limit on East Washington and have been using environmental controls, traffic signal timing, speed boards, and electronic messaging to convince drivers to slow down. Data shows that our efforts in managing the speed on the East Washington Ave corridor are having a positive effect, reducing the percentage of vehicles traveling over 40 mph by 30-90% depending on the time of day and location, but our efforts to understand each death, and address the issues we can address will continue,” explained Rhodes-Conway.

Pedestrian killed on East Washington Ave for the 6th time this year

Last Played

Community Events