INDIANAPOLIS — Families, crash survivors, neighborhood leaders and advocates gathered Sunday at the intersection of Shelby and Raymond streets to remember loved ones lost to traffic crashes and demand safer road design across Indianapolis.
“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s beautiful at the same time,” said Billie Jean Rogers, describing what it felt like to see the community gathered at the memorial for her significant other, 32-year-old Dillan Lee Rogers.
Rogers was hit and killed on Feb. 13 while crossing the Raymond Street I-65 off-ramp crosswalk. Investigators say video showed he had the right of way and the driver was charged with driving while intoxicated. Rogers had two children.
“Not only is it the intersection but it’s also the drivers,” she said.
This intersection has become a focal point for repeated tragedies. On October 13, Jeff Gillard was struck by the driver of a white pickup truck while crossing the street to catch the bus downtown. His wife, Tracey, says he remains in critical condition.
“He was thrown from the far corner to right here,” she said, pointing to the spot where neighbors gathered. “The driver took away my husband and my kids’ father.”
Just months earlier, on May 7, a speeding driver in a Dodge Charger ran a red light on Raymond Street at State Street, striking a man on a bicycle and killing his 4-year-old child riding in a trailer. The father and another driver were critically injured. The driver fled but was later arrested.
Sunday’s event was organized by Central Indiana Cycling and Health By Design as part of the global World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
The annual observance, held on the third Sunday of November, honors those killed or injured in traffic crashes and calls on leaders to make streets safer. An estimated 40,000 people die in crashes every year in the United States, with at least a third involving dangerous speeds.
Local elected officials, including City-County Council members Michael-Paul Hart and John Barth, State Rep. Mitch Gore, and representatives from the Bean Creek and Garfield Park neighborhood associations, attended the event.
Neighbors say the half-mile stretch between Shelby and State is a snapshot of a larger public safety crisis.
“Raymond Street has turned into a speedway with too many drivers not paying attention to the lights,” said Rich Whitney with the Garfield Park Neighborhood Association. “We don’t want to see anyone else hurt or killed here.”
Bean Creek Neighborhood Association President Debbie Conway said the community is still grieving the death of 4-year-old Alan Marcelo Salas-Garcia, who died in the red-light crash in May.
“This corridor is known to be one of the most dangerous streets in our city,” Conway said. “The Bean Creek neighbors are coming together to find ways to make the streets safer for everyone.”
This year’s World Day of Remembrance theme, Safe Speeds Save Lives, highlights the importance of street design, lower speed limits, and tools such as speed safety cameras. Research shows that even a 1 mph reduction in average speed can lead to a 5 percent reduction in crashes.
Residents and advocates at the event urged the city to prioritize safer walking and biking routes on the south side and commit meaningful funding to Indianapolis’s upcoming Vision Zero Plan.
