FARR WEST, Utah — Safety is a priority and concern for parents and families in the Farr West neighborhood along 2700 North.
Months after 9-year-old Carly Hodson was killed in an accident at the intersection of 2700 North 2000 West, crossing guard Larry Antunez captured body camera video of multiple close calls at the same location.
The road is managed by the Utah Department of Transportion and runs close to a freeway exit with school crossings.
Parents originally held a safety walk while holding signs and posters in hopes of encouraging drivers to slow down. Now, they are using data to come up with better solutions.
"There’s always complaints about the safety of this road and others around it,” said Jason Anderson, who chairs the Farr West's Traffic Safety Committee.
The committee was created due to safety complaints, with a mission to figure out what works best to keep the community safe.
A team of volunteers performed their own traffic audit, counting cars, pedestrians, and cyclists traveling through several Farr West intersections during a busy part of the day while kids returned home from school.
Anderson and his daughters were part of the group, and he hopes the practice helps the girls understand traffic in their city a little better.
"It’s a lot busier than maybe she thought before, and how important safety is to not just me, but you saw several other volunteers here, it’s good to know that there’s a lot of people who care about safety for kids," he said.
"The area is growing extremely fast, and they have some other developments coming in that they will need to really watch ways to keep kids safe,” added Jeri Boren, community health educator with the Weber-Morgan Health Department.
Boren said the research gathered by the volunteers could help officials determine whether a roundabout or pedestrian crosswalk with flashing blinkers should be added in certain roadways.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
