LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville victims of traffic fatalities read aloud on World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims.
Their shoes cover the floor.
Family and friends honored their loved ones as their lives were taken too soon.
Janet Heston lost her son nearly three years ago. Her 30-year-old son, Matthew, was walking to Iroquois Park when a driver hit him and kept going.
“I am a changed person. It’s the worst thing in the world to have your child die,” she said.
Heston said Matthew fell off the hood of the driver who hit him and was left disabled in the street. That’s when she said another driver who did not see him ran him over. He was caught in the undercarriage and killed.
To ensure no other mother goes through what she is trying to manage, Heston created Matthew’s Bridge Incorporated – a nonprofit aimed at making roadways safer for everyone.
“It is also extremely frustrating that Taylor-New Cut corridor has had lots of traffic studies over decades and still nothing has been done,” she said.
Heston, along with four other families have renewed calls for Kentucky to allow the use of speed and red light cameras, currently prohibited under state law.
“We hear you loud and clear. We are committed to making the roads, the sidewalks, all public safe spaces in Louisville safer for you and your loved ones for other loved ones that have been lost far too soon as a result of vehicular fatalities,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
In 2022, Louisville Metro Council passed an ordinance calling for zero roadway deaths by 2050. This is through the Transportation Safety Initiative, Vision Zero Louisville.
“There has been a lot done, but obviously none of this is going to bring my son back. That’s the worst part,” Heston said.
Kentucky law enforcement agencies reported nearly 700 traffic fatalities in 2022 – a drop from the 800 reported in 2021.
Currently, the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety is reporting 682 traffic fatalities.
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