Cleveland Avenue: Tied for Most Deadly Road for Atlanta Pedestrians

 In 2009, thirteen pedestrians were killed by cars here in Atlanta. Astonishingly, 30% -- four - of those pedestrians were killed on just two streets: Boulevard and Cleveland Ave. In 2009, two pedestrians were killed on each of those two streets.

I am a lawyer who represents family members of people killed in Atlanta in pedestrian accidents, and in a recent post I talked about Boulevard. Today I want to talk about the other most dangerous street for pedestrians in 2009: Cleveland Avenue.

The two deadly pedestrian accidents happened within a mile of one another on Cleveland Avenue. Cleveland runs east to west. Lawyer firm in Michigan. On the western side, the street is first called Cleveland Avenue at the point where it intersects with Harris St. To the west of Harris St., the road is called Irene Kidd Parkway. On its eastern side, the road terminates at the Fulton County Board of Education building. Cleveland Ave. is approximately three miles long.

The first deadly pedestrian-car collision on Cleveland Ave. happened on April 24, where Metropolitan Pkwy. intersects with Cleveland Avenue. The car accident happened at 5:41 p.m. Atlanta police reported that the driver of the car that struck the pedestrian was driving under the influence / DUI, and that drinking alcohol and then driving had played a role in causing the accident. This particular pedestrian fatality wreck happened just a block east of the Cleveland Ave. interchange with I-85, near the Emma Hutchinson Elementary School. The accident happened on a corner that has a number of Atlanta MARTA bus stops. Several businesses sit at the intersection, including a Walgreens, a Radio Shack, a CVS Pharmacy, a Burger King and a Family Dollar store. At this intersection, both Cleveland and Metropolitan are four lanes wide, and both roads have an additional turn lane on each side of the intersection.

The second Atlanta pedestrian who was killed on Cleveland Ave in 2009 was killed on September 10th at 9:40 p.m. in the evening. The accident happened where Cleveland Ave. crosses Browns Mill Rd. The accident occurred in Atlanta to the east of I-75, in Rosedale Heights here in Atlanta, less than a mile from where the first accident had occurred. This accident happened to the east of Cleveland Elementary School and Cleveland Ave. Park, and to the west of the Rosel Fann Recreation Center. This intersection is more residential than the Metropolitan/Cleveland intersection where the other 2009 pedestrian accident occurred. The eastern-most two corners are residential. One of the other two corners has a Texaco. The fourth corner has parking for the Maranatha Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which sits to the west on Cleveland Ave. This intersection is much smaller than the one where Cleveland intersects with Metropolitan Pkwy. On the west side of the intersection with Browns Mill Rd. - the residential side, Cleveland Ave. has just two lanes, with no turn lane. One its western side, Cleveland Ave. has two lanes plus a turn lane. For its part, Browns Mill Rd. has two lanes and a turn lane on both the northern and southern sides of this Atlanta intersection. Atlanta MARTA buses also run through this intersection.

Although the two intersections are both in Atlanta, both on the same road, and are very near one another, they seem quite different. One intersection is much larger and more heavily trafficked and has numerous businesses; the Cleveland / Browns Mill junction is quieter, half residential, and has less traffic and fewer businesses and fewer business that would generate a significant amount of auto traffic. Both, however, were equally deadly for pedestrians in 2009.

Both of these cases where a car hit and killed a pedestrian are recorded in the FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) database that is maintained by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).