Deadly pedestrian crash prompts new safety measures in Taos
TAOS, Mo. (KMIZ)
About two months after a deadly pedestrian crash in Cole County, solutions are in the works to make crosswalks safer.
On Dec. 24, a 16-year-old driver hit an 85-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman crossing Route M in Taos near St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church just before Mass. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital and the woman was seriously hurt.
The crash happened in an area where Mayor Ronald Walker said speed has always been a problem.
The speed limit is 55 miles per hour coming into the city on either side and quickly drops to 30 miles per hour just before drivers approach more pedestrian-heavy areas like the Catholic church and school. The highway is essentially Taos' main street.
"Route M was like an evolution of local community roads that was adopted into the state supplementary routes and they were hard paved," Walker said. So it's a pretty main connector between Route 50 on the east side of Jeff City, around Wardsville and the communities in southern Cole County."
The amount of drivers taking Route M through Taos has grown, according to Walker. On average, 824 vehicles used the stretch of highway in 2024. ABC 17 News saw many drivers going at least 10 miles per hour over the limit on Monday.
"You get that reduction for people coming in from a 50 to a 30 and then going through this area. So speed is always a concern," Walker said.
Before he was elected mayor in 2022, Walker worked for the Missouri State Highway Patrol. While MSHP and the Missouri Department of Transportation did not share what caused the deadly December crash, he said a number of factors could have played a part.
“This day and age, distracted driving is a huge concern. There's people coming out of private driveways. There's always activity around the church and the school. There's pulling in, parking on either side up here that I think can play a part in congestion and people getting in and out of those parking spots," Walker said. "So I think there's a lot of different things that could play into a real bad sequence of events."
One factor he said the city can work to improve is speeding.
"The board [Taos Board of Aldermen] felt like we could maybe gain some extra awareness for drivers coming through if we had what they [MoDOT] call a driver feedback sign on either side of this general part of the community that just announces your speed," Walker said.
The hope is having a speed reader on each side of the city will alert drivers if they're going too fast and encourage them to slow down. MoDOT is also exploring other pedestrian safety features along Route M, such as lighting.
"There's a certain standard for lighting," Walker said. "You don't want to have intensity of light enough that you distract a driver with artificial lighting when it's too dark."
The Dec. 24 crash happened around 8:20 p.m., according to an MSHP crash report. While costs are still being estimated, Taos will front the bill for whatever safety features are installed. MoDOT does not typically pay for pedestrian improvements.
“I’m not sure how you put a cost on safety. I mean, there's always a balance, but I think good safety is just a great investment for every community," Walker said.
A MoDOT engineer is set to meet Walker in Taos next week and look at where speed readers might be placed.
