On a cycling tour, pedaling down the Cross City Trail with Tammy Swanson, she directs me to keep my head on a swivel.
"Okay, so watch for your left. They will come right through here, not even stop for that crosswalk," she says.
Swanson is the Safety and Education Chair of the Terry Benji Bicycling Foundation. We’re on a tour of the city, looking at places where cyclists just like us have been killed. To Tammy, it’s a shared responsibility.
"Safety is complicated. Never assume. Never assume that you're seen. Never assume that the other person is going to recognize that you're there," she says.
Cyclists and pedestrians are at a disadvantage on the road. Cars have become safer and safer over the years for drivers and passengers. But for those who don’t have the protection of airbags and seatbelts, a 4,000-pound hunk of metal coming at them can be absolutely deadly.
And Greg Willet, spokesperson for the Wilmington Police Department, says it's getting deadlier.
"I would dare say there's been an increase in just regular collisions. But as far as the number of fatals, and fatals involving pedestrians, specifically, I would say, has increased," he says.
There’s a number of factors contributing to that grim fact. Willet points to growing population and increasing traffic — some roads that used to be safer for cyclists and pedestrians are getting more dangerous, like River Road. And there’s cell phones.
"You add a cell phone into it, a conversation into it, or something like that, you're diminishing your capacity to pay attention as well," Willet says. "So you can kind of get to that cognitive point where it's almost like drinking and driving, and you don't see something until it's too late. It only takes a second.”
Seeing the aftermath can be traumatizing.
"I've been in law enforcement for a little over 23 years now, and I've worked all over the department," Willet says. "The worst, and not trying to be overly dramatic or gruesome, but the worst scenes that I've ever gone to throughout my whole career were actually vehicle-related car crashes. Sometimes they involve pedestrians, sometimes they don't, but more often than not, so many of these really gruesome scenes involve intoxication and speed."
Speed is always a factor in whether a crash is fatal. The National Transportation Safety Board found that just 5% of pedestrians are fatally injured when struck by a vehicle at 20 mph, but that likelihood increases to 45% at 30 mph — and 85% at 40 mph.
Speed limits matter as well. According to a 2019 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "a 5-mph increase in the maximum state speed limit was associated with an 8.5% increase in fatality rates on interstates/freeways and a 2.8% increase on other roads.
But there are other systemic issues. Road design can make pedestrians less safe — poor lighting, high speeds, and a lack of crosswalks have all been tied to more fatalities.
Pedestrians should always cross streets at crosswalks — though that’s not always an option. At the least, they should cross at traffic lights, where drivers will be paying more attention. Willet says there are still places he thinks are unsafe, even if a pedestrian is doing everything right.
"Even as a police officer, I'm standing here telling you when I say that I wouldn't cross Market Street on foot, I'm even talking about an intersection," he says.
Of course, not every resident in Wilmington has the ability to drive instead. Around 6% of residents of New Hanover County lack access to a car — for them, the only option is to travel by foot, pedal, or bus.
Officers are often seeing things that make them nervous. Corporal Brandon McInerney is part of WPD’s traffic enforcement division, and says the worst spots in town are where there’s a confluence of fast-moving traffic and a lot of pedestrians.
"Our biggest issue with pedestrians and cyclists right now is on Market Street, probably from 20th Street, all the way up to Kerr Avenue, and then down Kerr Avenue, probably till about Randall Parkway, and then some spots on College Road, just based on the volume of people that are walking and crossing the street," he says.
Under North Carolina law, cyclists are required to act as vehicles, operating within travel lanes — meaning they’re supposed to be alongside cars and trucks, in the road. But many ride on sidewalks and crosswalks, because it feels safer. McInerney says he almost never enforces that law, though he does think cyclists should ride in the road.
"Drivers have to pay attention more slow down, be more focused. Pedestrians have to use the tools that the city's put in place, whether it be traffic lights, unmarked crosswalks, and just go with the light and walk a little bit further to get to get to a safe place. It's just about patience," he says.
The responsibility goes both ways: drivers should treat cyclists with respect – they have a right to the road, just like drivers do. And cyclists have a duty to be predictable, to pay attention, and to try their best to be visible.
As for drivers, the advice from most law enforcement officers is straightforward: pay attention, and slow down. Follow the posted speed limit: it’s there for a reason. As for smart phones — it’s not just illegal to text while driving, it’s potentially lethal. You don’t want to take another person’s life because you wanted to check a text.
