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So far this year Austin has already had more traffic deaths than in all of 2014.
One way the city council is tackling the issue is by highlighting the most dangerous intersections.
District Five council member Ann Kitchen thinks she can tackle the problem collaborating with traffic engineers.
Chris Corbie has lived in Austin for 44 years. He has seen the city grow right before his eyes.
“It's a prosperous area and people are coming from all over the country and really all over the world,” said Corbie, driver.
Along with the growth comes growing pains. Traffic is one of those. According to crash data, the intersection of Manchaca and Slaughter Lane is the city's most dangerous. Corbie is not surprised.
“I came up and there was a fatality wreck a few weeks ago, it really clogged up traffic and it was a tragedy,” said Corbie.
Here is the full list:
- West Slaughter and Manchaca Road
- Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane
- Lamar Boulevard and Parmer Lane
- U.S. 183 Service Road and Cameron Road
- I-35 Service Road Southbound and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Our streets should be safe,” said Ann Kitchen, District Five City Council.
Kitchen is working on doing something about these tragedies
“Medians, they may have to do with turn lanes, with signal lights,” said Kitchen.
The safety projects are expected to cost just under $4 million. She says the council will try to come up with about $1.3 million and the transportation staff would handle the rest. But she feels safety improvements can only work if drivers obey the laws.
“The other side is how we drive so people need to be responsible,” said Kitchen.
“If A.P.D. had some more enforcement especially coming westbound over the railroad crossing and perhaps put up some signs,” said Corbie.
Austin may be experiencing major growth, but it is important for the city to keep up
“Our number of fatalities is unacceptably high, so we wanted to do something right away,” said Kitchen.