Local News
We Need Driver’s Ed to Make St. Louis Safe for Pedestrians

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I don’t remember the first time I was almost run over in my neighborhood, but I do remember the last. This morning, as my five-month-old puppy and I crossed the street at Connecticut and Spring, some dude in a red sedan turned left without stopping and came inches from mowing us down. He was treated to a string of expletives and then I guess went back to his TV show or Candy Crush or other such nonsense.
The time before that, I dared to cross Grand at a crosswalk. For the uninitiated, a crosswalk is those white painted lines in the street that indicate a pedestrian crossing. Most St. Louisans ignore them, but in other cities they mean “stop.” I got halfway across the street when I glanced up to see a terrified driver jamming his brakes. I leapt onto the sidewalk and barely caught my breath when I heard his passenger yell out, “There’s no stop sign here.” “IT’S A CROSSWALK,” I roared.
Walking in St. Louis is a dangerous game. You had better hope that you kissed your loved ones goodbye when you brave the mean streets of St. Louis because the drivers here would kill you as soon as look at you. Why people who are so friendly everywhere else turn ruthless on the road is beyond me. The consequences of bad driving range from the slightly annoying (like going 45 mph on the highway) to the tragic (like the 5-year-old boy killed in Bevo Mill this week).
Lawmakers are ready to take action. Alderwoman Cara Spencer has proposed booting cars that have traffic violations. However, this approach assumes that bad drivers get caught, which is simply not the case. Unless we are willing to empower citizens to issue citations and apply boots, there is just too much bad driving for law enforcement to manage, and letting police officers decide who to stop is a recipe for discrimination. Mayor Tishaura Jones favors bringing back red light cameras, but doing so creates perverse incentives for camera companies that profit from every ticket, and research demonstrates that cameras are not enough to discourage reckless driving. As for me, I would prefer crosswalk buttons that activate those spiky metal things that they use at car rental places to prevent you from backing up, but those might be cost-prohibitive.
Besides, all of these proposed solutions double down on surveillance and enforcement. What if we looked to education instead? As a transplant from Texas, I was shocked when my husband, a St. Louis native, told me he never had to take driver’s ed. In fact, Missouri is one of only 13 states that requires no driver’s education of any kind. What results is the intergenerational transmission of bad driving—parents pass their poor driving skills on to their kids who pass it on to their kids (sorry parents, but you know it’s true). Driver’s ed should be available in all public schools and completion should be required before getting a driver’s license.
Driver’s ed would teach St. Louisans some basic skills like knowing when it’s your turn (making a left at a green light that is not a left arrow? PEDESTRIANS have the right of way!), how to merge (people merging are not trying to steal your firstborn child. They are just following the rules of the road), and, of course, that a red light means “stop.” It would also teach them advanced skills like driving among bicyclists, how to parallel park, and how to identify a crosswalk.
Education would have a bigger impact if St. Louis developed a plan for our city that actually made sense. Our current system of streets cobbled together by random intersections and errant stoplights makes driving hard. Lanes shift or end without warning, turn lanes are never long enough, and insufficient cutouts for buses and delivery trucks impede traffic flow. Add to that the serious lack of signage and lane markers that are impossible to see in the dark, and even the best drivers struggle.
If we want St. Louisans to drive well, we must make it easy and efficient to do so. Pedestrians owe a courtesy to drivers too. Darting across Kingshighway or Vandeventer wherever you feel like it is not viable. By now, I sound like a broken record, but USE THE CROSSWALK!
One thing is clear: something has to change. St. Louis pedestrians can no longer bear the sense of impending doom that haunts them when they step out of the house, even in so-called “walkable” neighborhoods. Drivers should not have to take their lives into their own hands to go to a ballgame or pick up groceries. Let’s give new drivers a fighting chance by teaching them the rules of the road and give all drivers roads that are easy to navigate.
And to the guy in the red sedan: I hope that Candy Crush gives your phone a virus and your favorite show gets cancelled. Maybe then you will learn to keep your eyes on the road.
The RFT welcomes short essays on topics of local interest. Contact [email protected] if you’ve got something to say.
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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.
Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.
The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.
The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.
This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.
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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.
“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”
He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”
The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”
Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”
The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.
Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”
In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.
“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”
Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”
Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.
“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.
Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)
One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.
Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.
“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”
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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.
The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.
The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.
The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.
To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/
“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”
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