INDIANAPOLIS — Some are calling it a "crisis" across Indianapolis.
"We were tracking the data last year and we got to the end of the year, and it was obviously pretty bad, but this year has just blown that, sadly, out of the water," said Eric Holt, president of Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis.
Pedestrians and cyclists are getting hit by cars at a rate we've never seen.
"We're averaging, right now, 2.4 people struck each and every single day," said Holt.
He said so far in November, two people have been killed from getting hit by a car.
One of those people is Theodore Taylor, who died after he was struck by a vehicle at West 25th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets around 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15.
While Taylor's sons didn't want to go on camera, they say their dad was an amazing artist and an even better father. They said police told them a driver failed to yield as their father crossed the street.
Taylor's sons also told 13News reporter Chase Houle that IMPD told them a woman failed to yield as their dad was crossing 25th and MLK when he was hit. He was awake and breathing when he was taken to the hospital but died a day later.
The driver reportedly stayed at the scene and cooperated with IMPD's investigation.
A day after Taylor died, 66-year-old James Lee Poole was struck and killed in the intersection of West Kessler Boulevard North Drive and Lafayette Road.
"We have had a number of months that have had you know, five, six, seven people killed in a month, so two right now is on the lower side of what we've seen," said Holt.
On Holt's website, it shows hotspots where people are most commonly hit. He said the intersection where Taylor was hit isn't one of those areas.
But there's one zone that sticks out.
"Washington Street last year had a full 10% of all the incidents we tracked across the entire city, just on Washington Street. It was something like 680 total incidents and 68 of them being on Washington," said Holt.
So, how do this year's numbers compare to those in 2023?
According to Holt, there were 684 pedestrian-vehicle accidents last year — 47 of them were fatal.
So far this year, there have been 783 pedestrian-vehicle accidents, including 38 fatalities.
Houle asked Holt why he believes we've seen so many people hit by vehicles. He said while his data doesn't show that, he thinks it's an infrastructure issue.
In the meantime, he wants pedestrians to keep their head on a swivel and for drivers to pay attention to the road.