Another Bradley student is dead, the victim of horseplay. Once again, the perpetrator was an underage drinker:
According to police reports, the two friends were walking on the sidewalk along the west side of University with about five other people when [Robert] Hurt was allegedly pushed into oncoming traffic and struck by the passenger side of a southbound car near the intersection of Russell Street….
Hurt was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center with severe head injuries and died about an hour later, according to Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll…. After interviewing witnesses, police arrested [Brandon] Gish. He was also ticketed for consumption of alcohol by a minor along with Brooke A. Rumbold, 20.
Hurt was 21; Gish is 19.
I’ll be interested to hear more specifics on this case as the details unfold. The paper says Gish pushed Hurt into oncoming traffic — this leaves me with many questions. Was he just trying to push him generally, and Hurt lost his balance and fell into oncoming traffic? Did he get pushed into the street in time to get back on the sidewalk if he would have reacted quicker? Or did Gish deliberately push Hurt in front of a car, thinking that his friend wouldn’t be badly injured from the incident, but might walk away with some bumps and bruises? Or some other permutation of these options?
And what about the alcohol? Was it a factor? We know it impairs judgment and reaction time. It had to have played some part in the incident. Bradley has already formed a committee to develop a comprehensive alcohol action plan; it was formed after a previous incident where a student died as the result of a prank involving roman candles.
One thing we know for sure: this is a tragedy, and my sympathy goes out to everyone involved and their families, but especially the parents of Hurt. My deepest condolences to them.
Yes, this whole story is tragic. For the victim, for the perpetrator (who, I’m sure never meant for his friend to die) and for the driver of the car, who is the totally innocent victim of chance. How awful and life changing for so many over such a senseless reason-goofing off, drinking…
I would like to respond to this post with my perspective as a mother of three sons and a Heart of Peoria Commissioner.
Often parent’s fears are calmed by the cliché “…boys will be boys” However, the tragedy this past weekend can not solely be explained by the notion that boys will at some point in time, drink too much, horse around too much or believe they are invincible.
The incident that took the life of Robert Hurt might possibly have been avoided if the streets surrounding Bradley University’s campus were more appropriately designed for pedestrian travel. Currently, University Street is solely designed for automobile travel; in reality, the pedestrian’s experience and safety has been given a low priority.
To walk safely pedestrians need to be buffered from traffic by space. The space can either be a canopy of street trees, parked cars, grass strips or a combination. Most importantly, the width of the sidewalk needs to accommodate people walking side-by-side with room for others to pass comfortably. Does this sound familiar…
No it is not happening on University Street in Peoria. Can it happen here? Most definitely! How? You have to ask all of our City Council people (not just District Council people) to make it a priority in city/street planning.
Maybe this tragedy will be the springboard necessary to spur Peoria policy makers into action. I hope they will recognize we have not done enough to secure the safety of our citizens who are walking either out of preference or necessity. I am particularly concerned about this because I am a Heart of Peoria Commissioner and because I am the mother of three boys ages 16-22.
I am not comfortable having them walk in Peoria. You should worry too!
Ms.Akeson I know you are a well educated lady but with all due respect you are full of **it. I question your sincerity and maybe even your intelligence or stability at this point (I’ve read your other posts). Your entire post above is complete hog wash. In my opinion you are taking advantage of this tragic Bradley incident to further your Heart of Peoria sidewalk effort or agenda. Maybe you should get a psychologist to help you with your sidewalk problem/obsession. “To walk safely pedestrians need to be buffered from traffic by space.” Are you proposing this for Western and Lincoln ave. too, which are well trod just like Bradley area streets? Are you proposing buffers for all streets within Peoria that are similar to that section of N. University? Good lord, who will pay for it all? “To walk safely pedestrians need to be buffered from traffic by space”. Utter bull**it. To walk safely pedestrians need to be sensible. It doesn’t take a “canopy of trees, grass strips or a combination” to safeguard pedestrians from passing autos. It takes pedestrian sensiblity. I have lived in this city all my life as a pedestrian and have always been comfortable walking in Peoria. I’ve walked miles over Main, University, Western, Lincoln, Adams, Griswald, Grandview, Jefferson, Prospect, Knoxville, War Memorial, MLK, Moss, Sheridan, Forest Hill, McClure and many others. I am a pedestrian who has lived all over Peoria. None of these streets presented problems to me as a pedestrian. And I AM A PEDESTRIAN. Probably more so than you Beth. I don’t drive. I walk and I ride the city buses. I know the streets and the dangers they present. Mostly the dangers are from people and not from sidewalks, garbage cans or traffic. How many years experience have you logged walking Peoria streets Beth? I’ve got just under 55.
Nora- Educate yourself
Please start here: http://www.walkinginfo.org/pedsafe/moreinfo_sidewalks.cfm
I’ve walked the sidewalks in the Main and University arwa for decades and have experienced no problems. Of course, I have stayed on the sidewalk and have used common sense at all times.
Not all areas of Peoria need the same things. The area around Bradley has lots of foot traffic and as a result should have safer sidewalks.
Anyone who has gone to One World Cafe knows what I am talking about. You are walking inches from traffic that is moving very fast. One distraction from a driver on their cell phone and they could take out several people. If you are walking down that block with little kids you must hang on to them for dear life.
I understand what Beth is saying and I think she is just pointing out that we as a community should be paying more attention to the way we design our streets and sidewalks. When we renovate an area how can we design a buffer for pedestrians and make it safer for all. For way too many years the only concern our traffic engineers have had was how to move more traffic quicker. They would widen roads and intersections and sidewalks are an afterthought if they even got installed at all. Some areas of town,(Northwoods Mall comes to mind) if you don’t have a car there is no safe way to even access that area on foot.
As far as “who will pay for it all” I don’t think anyone really thinks that we can go back and change everything at once. We need to change the mindset of the people designing these areas and the mindset of the community and build a better pedestrian friendly community into new projects.
Thank you Peoriafan. Again Spot on!
I agree with Ms. Akeson. The first thing I thought of when I read about this tragedy was that it is so dangerous to walk along University, sober or otherwise. I used to routinely drive over to Bradley around 4:00 p.m. and I felt it was dangerous driving along this section of University. There is so much traffic going through and really not sufficient room for all the lanes. It seems to be such a bottleneck at University and Main – way too much traffic flowing through this area.
Mrs. Akeson thank you for the link. I will read it and peruse the site. Is there any information in particular that you want me to take away or notice from this reading?
peoriafan, I’ve been to One World, crossed that intersection and have never feared. If it is soooo dangerous, where are the stats that say so? You are also walking inches from traffic also on Sheridan Rd, Western Ave, Knoxvile. Ever walked on Clark St.in Chicago? I’ve never fear for my safety on these narrow walkways.
“Some areas of town,(Northwoods Mall comes to mind) if you don’t have a car there is no safe way to even access that area on foot.” Full mahooey. I been there, done that and for many years. As has and does my mother. Why don’t you try it yourself sometime. But to be sure, that area could have been configured better.
All I can say is try crossing 8 lanes of traffic on Sterling from Westlake to Northwoods Mall on foot. I am guessing your mother has though.
Yes peoriafan my 79 year old mother has and does cross the 50 feet at the lights to get to the other side of Sterling. As have I many times. How else would you get to Ruby Tuesday from the mall? She will also cross Sterling to get to Target though there is a bus that she can wait for to get her there.
I realize though in an age of 4 car households where most members haven’t walked a block since they were 12 that it is difficult to believe that there actually are people who have never driven a car and fully rely on their legs and mass transit to get around. But the doctor says our walking (and not smoking or drinking) is probably why both me and mother are in great health and require no medications whatsoever. Mother is stronger and healthier than some 40 somethings that I know.
Nora- you & your mother should be admired for your continued willingness to walk in these pedestrian unfriendly areas
Correct. Just because someone walks on Peoria sidewalks and streets, successfully reaching their destination without getting killed, is not proof that our town is pedestrian-friendly. Nora, how many folks do you and your mom see dashing across Sterling? (And why would anyone eat at Ruby Tuesdays?) Yes, we are a car-based culture, but many would likely choose to walk if walking seemed like a good option.
Well for what it’s worth, after some reading and researching I’ve changed my opinion and I actually am now for creating pedestrian-friendly areas, sidewalks and walkways in Peoria. But, I can advocate only if most of the funds needed for projects are derived from city and county motorists in some form of motorist, vehicle or gas tax. After all it is automobiles, trucks and buses that are the biggest threat to pedestrians. They should pay for that. Autos are pedestrian-unfriendly unless of course an auto picks up a pedestrian and gives him/her a ride. And sidewalks didn’t create the problem. Sidewalks are inherently pedestrian-friendly no matter how they are designed. Nor did pedestrians create the problem. Pedestrians are also inherently pedestrian-friendly. The tax makes sense as far as taxes go. It may even be a bit Europeanish. I’d even be willing to take a hike in my Citylink fare since buses are also a danger. Funding by sales and property taxes alone or other methods that don’t include a motorist tax of some sort sends me back to being an opponent on the issue.
But, north Sterling would be just super for pedestrians with tree canopies or 6′ grass buffers along with 2 or 4 footbridges over the eight lanes of the avenue. I know Sterling has never known much foot traffic even after the mall was built on that corn field, but me, mom and some other Citylink riders along with a few skateboarders from the area could surely appreciate the retrofitting that could come from the taxing of motorists who are the ones who create problems for pedestrian safety.
Nora, you are so silly.
I don’t disagree that this town is lacking safe sidewalks and the corner of Main & University is horrible, as is most of Main Street, but in this specific instance where the kid took a deadly header into a windshield, the sidewalk was at least 5-6 feet removed from University with a grass barrier and is completely safe.
As Emtronics likes to say, you can’t fix stupid.