Cause for concern: After rash of roadway fatalities, officials urge locals to use caution
Sean Rey's parents believe the family dog went looking for their son after he was killed April 2 in a horrific two-car crash that dragged the 27-year-old bicyclist up Phenix City's Summerville Road from 36th Street.
The Reys' Great Pyrenees had escaped their yard on 10th Court before, said Sean's father, Skip, but every other time they found the pet at nearby Idle Hour Park, where Sean once walked about eight miles a day on the trails, often shooting photos on the way.
The last time the dog got out, he wasn't at the park. Luckily some college students leaving a midnight movie found him that night lying alongside Summerville Road, where Sean was killed. The dog was exhausted, said Skip Rey, perhaps from tracking Sean until the trail ended.
It ended in a trail of blood, where the second car that hit Sean dragged him up the road. He was left with multiple internal injuries, plus road scrapes and a broken arm and leg with the bones exposed. He died in the hospital days later.
Now he's listed among the locals who have been fatally injured in bicycle and pedestrian collisions in an era when more people walk for necessity or exercise and use bicycles for low-cost, clean-energy travel.
With roads designed for automobiles, other uses take a backseat. Columbus is adding more bike trails and bike lanes, but the Reys believe Phenix City is lagging in that effort and should have bike lanes on major streets and especially downtown, to connect to Columbus' bike paths. They believe such safety measures could have protected their son.
The impact
Headed from 10th Court to his 6 a.m. job at the Chevron station on Summerville Road south of the North Bypass, Sean was northbound at 36th Street when first he collided with a southbound pickup turning left, then the second vehicle heading north dragged him toward the road's bypass bridge.
Besides his broken arm and leg, Sean had a crushed pelvis, broken jaw, broken palate, fractured skull and ruptured intestine.
Fire Capt. Dan Woods, Columbus' coordinator of emergency medical services, said paramedics anticipate extensive injuries when an automobile runs over someone. But the best they can do is stop the bleeding, stabilize the patient for transport and race to Midtown Medical Center. The faster the patient gets to the trauma team, the better the chances of survival.
But an ambulance can only go so fast -- and the patients who make it to the hospital don't always last. Sean Rey lived 16 days after the accident, never regaining consciousness. Doctors put his broken body in a metal frame and induced a coma, waiting until he could have an operation. "They put pins in him to hold him together until he was strong enough to do surgery, which was about four days later," his father said. Later he had an infection, and then his kidneys failed.
Names and numbers
Sean was not the only one hit twice in Phenix City this year.
Joseph William Nevels, 33, was hit twice Aug. 4 crossing the road on U.S. 80 near Mimosa Road. First he was hit by a Buick SUV, then a black pickup truck ran over him as he lay in the right westbound lane.
According to police, Phenix City so far this year has had four pedestrian or bicyclist fatalities:
The other victims include:
Nathan Wombles, 31, who died April 27 after being struck by a 1987 Jeep Wrangler on Bonanza Drive.
Ezzie Lee Bullard, 31, died after he was hit by a Chevrolet Cavalier near the intersection of U.S. 280 and 16th Avenue on May 20.
There have also been six such accidents with only injuries this year. Last year Phenix City had two fatal accidents and 10 with only injuries, police said.
Columbus so far this year has had two pedestrian fatalities:
Romel Dill, 17, whose body was found around 7 a.m. Aug. 6 on Steam Mill Road between Dogwood Drive and McCartha Drive. Police believe he was walking home overnight when a vehicle hit him.
Tae N. Yoon, 74, who was hit at 5:50 p.m. Jan. 6 by a westbound 2004 Honda Accord as she ran across Weems Road. She died in the hospital Jan. 12 from a head injury.
Columbus police said they've recorded 8,837 accidents so far this year, including 201 involving pedestrians and 17 involving cyclists. National statistics from the Governors Highway Safety Association show pedestrian fatalities dropped from 2006 to 2009, then abruptly jumped 15 percent from 2010 to 2012, though other traffic deaths decreased during those years.
Pedestrian deaths dropped again in 2013, though the overall number of 4,735 still was 15 percent higher than the low of 4,109 reported in 2009. The association said such accidents decreased only slightly in 2014.
"After adjusting for underreporting in the preliminary state data, GHSA anticipates there has been little change in the number of pedestrians killed in 2014 compared with 2013," the association said. "The number of deaths remains relatively high and is cause for concern."
Patrol Maj. J.D. Hawk of the Columbus Police Department stressed that pedestrians and bicyclists have to be extra careful on streets built for automobiles. He said most accidents result from pedestrians and cyclists disobeying traffic laws and not taking precautions. They should wear light colored or reflective clothing to be more visible at night, avoid stepping out in front of vehicles, use crosswalks and sidewalks, and follow other safety measures.
Like motorists, cyclists have to obey the rules of the road and ride with the flow of traffic, not against it, while obeying traffic lights, stop signs and other traffic controls. Everyone should prepare for the worst when traveling, Hawk said. "If you don't plan on it happening, you can guarantee it's going to happen."
The design issue
Longtime Columbus bicyclist Pat McHenry said cities should better prepare to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians, as more residents now take to the streets without cars.
That kind of transportation planning needs to go into the initial design of new roads and neighborhoods, he said. "Most of north Columbus is just a very difficult thing to retrofit for pedestrians and cyclists," he said. "Rather than build on a grid system, which serves pedestrians and cyclists really well -- because you have lots of intersections -- it's built on an artery and cul-de-sac system, where there is only one road and they build these suburban neighborhoods that only have one entrance onto that road. If they do a bunch of those, they are very disconnected."
That makes it hard for anyone to walk or bike, he said. "You have to drive to even get short distances."
He faulted the design practice of focusing solely on the "level of service," an A-through-F letter grade that gauges how quickly motor vehicles negotiate an intersection.
"The more cars that get through a road faster, the better the grade is," said McHenry. "It doesn't assess anything else. There's no trade-off -- like if the cars go really fast here, the pedestrians can't get through here. It doesn't consider that at all. There is no assessment of pedestrian safety."
Woods, the Columbus emergency medical services coordinator, believes in the dual approach of educating bicyclists and pedestrians on safety measures and accommodating them on the streets.
Bike lanes and crosswalks serve not only to protect their users, but to remind motorists in this age of distraction to watch for bikes and walkers, he said. Woods noted drivers now may take their eyes off the road for only an instant if they're on a cellphone or drinking coffee, and an instant is all it takes for someone to cross in front of them. The most dangerous spots are where roads are not so marked and often are narrow and unlighted.
Woods said paramedics fear the trauma small children experience when hit by cars. It depends on the vehicle height, but typically an automobile strikes an adult in the pelvis and a child at the head and shoulders.
Either can be devastating.
"With children, it's very difficult, because everything's small," he said. "They go downhill a whole lot faster. The injuries can be extensive." Sometimes adults fare no better. A pelvic fracture like Sean Rey sustained causes the patient to bleed internally, Woods said.
"You think about where a bumper on some of these cars would hit an individual, and it is so overwhelming. The area around the hip, there's so much that can be busted up in there. Just for one fracture in the pelvis, you can lose 500 cc's of blood." Five hundred cubic centimeters of blood is about 17 ounces, more than a pint.
The aftermath
Sean Rey's parents were not entirely surprised their dog Max went out of his way looking for Sean. Sean always had a touch for animals. He would bring home stray,s particularly kittens, and care for them. As a child he brought home injured birds and tried to nurse them back to health. His mother, Brenda, said he shot a video in which he held a hummingbird in his hand before releasing it.
He had a compassionate soul, they said. After his death, a woman who'd had a drug addiction told his parents he talked her out of suicide, before she got over her addiction and went on to college. Kids who'd been bullied told Sean's parents they turned to him for comfort.
For his memorial service at Striffler-Hamby Funeral Home off Phenix City's 280 bypass, 145 visitors signed the guest book. Some were motorcyclists who came from as far away as Macon, Ga. The parents plan to honor Sean's memory by pushing for bike paths in Phenix City.
Sean's father, 66, served in the U.S. Army Special Forces during Vietnam, before moving to light infantry and the Reserves. He retired from the Reserves with a major's rank. Sean's mother, 60, is the chief nurse in a basic-training clinic at Fort Benning, where her husband trained in the 1960s. They've been married 27 years.
They will do what they can to ensure pedestrians and bicyclists in Phenix City have safe paths to follow, they said. Skip Rey said he's thinking of running for city council.
Meanwhile, they're comforted by Sean's friends -- he had more of them than they'd imagined a shy young man could accumulate. On his Facebook page, his friends say sudden encounters with animals remind them of him, and it cheers them up.
At the Chevron station where he worked, a little makeshift memorial stands outside, just down the road from where a 105-pound Great Pyrenees named Max tired out hunting for him.
SAFETY TIPS
These tips are from local authorities and the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
FOR BICYCLISTS:
• Wear a helmet and other protective gear.
• At night, have a white light on the front of the bike and a red reflector on the back, each visible from 300 feet.
• Also at night, have reflectors on the sides of the bike or wear reflective clothing.
• Keep to the road’s right side, traveling with the flow of traffic.
• Obey stop signs, traffic lights and other traffic controls.
• Try to ensure motorists see you before crossing in front of them.
FOR PEDESTRIANS:
• Walk on the road’s left side, facing traffic.
• Absent sidewalks, walk off the road on the right of way.
• Cross only at intersections or street corners, using crosswalks if they’re available.
• Continue to look both ways while crossing.
• Remove earphones and put away wireless devices while crossing.
• Wear easily visible or reflective clothing at night.
• If possible, have an adult cross the street with children, as adults are more visible.
• Ensure drivers see you before crossing in front of them.
This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Cause for concern: After rash of roadway fatalities, officials urge locals to use caution ."