Drexel University campus was rocked this November by two fatal hit-and-runs on Market Street within just seven days.
At approximately 4:00 a.m. on Nov. 20, 48-year-old Meaza Brown was crossing the intersection of Market Street at 33rd Street when she was struck and killed by a speeding driver. The driver fled in a Chrysler 300, which was recovered nearby, but they remain at large.
Drexel University Police Department confirmed to The Triangle that its person of interest in the case does not have any ties to the campus community, and referred the information to Philadelphia Police Department detectives.
At approximately 4:00 p.m. on Nov. 27 — Thanksgiving Day — 41-year-old Rosa Mar Espinoza Rodas, an employee at a nearby business taking her lunch break, was crossing at 36th Street when she was killed by another speeding driver. The alleged driver, 31-year-old Shamir Miller, fled before crashing into a car at 34th Street and fleeing on foot. He was arrested near the scene by PPD officers with aid from DUPD.
The two tragedies have rattled a campus community that is generally desensitized to near-misses with cars, and they have cast a new light on the need for pedestrian safety upgrades around campus, particularly on Market Street.
The Drexel stretch of Market Street has been included in the city’s High Injury Network since its inception, indicating it is among the 12 percent of city streets where 80 percent of injuries occur. In real terms, between 2019 and 2023, one fatal crash was logged at Schuylkill Avenue West, as well as five serious injuries along the stretch.
While these crashes were clear anomalies, they do point to the dangers of the Market Street Corridor. Market Street exhibits many of the qualities that make drivers comfortable speeding, such as long straightaways and clear lines of sight, according to the design advocacy nonprofit Strong Towns.
Especially at high speeds, pedestrians are extremely vulnerable in collisions: above 42 miles per hour, there is a 50 percent chance of death. In Philadelphia, 65 percent of people killed in car crashes last year were not the drivers or passengers, but instead walking, rolling, biking, or motorcycling. Nationwide, approximately 23 percent of pedestrian fatalities are due to hit-and-run collisions.
Public Safety and the city’s Streets Department have made piecemeal efforts to improve pedestrian safety on campus, including on Chestnut Street, 32nd Street, and 33rd Street, but with mixed results.
The Streets Department recently installed a set of “speed slots,” a type of speed bump with gaps, at Lancaster Walk and 33rd St. While DUPD was involved in planning the Chestnut Street crossing, Chief Mel Singleton told The Triangle that the change was not made with their input.
Dane Hagstrom, a fifth-year civil engineering major who studied the crosswalk for an undergraduate case study, was skeptical of the effectiveness of the speed bumps.
“As someone that had traversed this intersection, and watched it for at least five to six hours, it wasn’t the speeding that was ever the major issue,” he told The Triangle. “It was a behavior and geometric problem that derives from low sight distances, pedestrians not yielding to cars… [and cars] trying to dart through gaps between pedestrians.”
“The city likes to put in speed cushions because they are cheap and easy to install, but [they’re] just not the right tool,” in this case, he said.
However, Market Street has yet to see significant upgrades aimed at pedestrian safety. In part, that is because it presents unique challenges.
According to Chief Singleton, the crashes were “entirely driver-caused. In both cases, the drivers ran red lights. They disregarded steady red lights, and they were operating way above the speed limit along Market Street. And so in both cases those drivers were operating recklessly.”
Proactively addressing reckless driving along Market Street may prove difficult and costly.
“[T]here’s arterial restrictions along major roadways like Market Street, right? You can’t use speed cushions along Market Street. You have emergency operations in terms of medics and police, and SEPTA buses, so you can’t use that there…. but there’s evidence that other uses of technology [are] effective on roadways if you have them in place,” Singleton said.
He pointed to the success that automated speed enforcement cameras and red-light cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard, the city’s most dangerous road, have had in reducing crash rates.
“[T]hose things have significant impacts on roadways and highways, and we know this. And so one of the things that I’m asking for is that [on] Market Street… I know the city is looking to get financing for those types of things. We need that along Market Street.”
However, those cameras must contend with another scourge on Philly roads: fraudulent tags and paper plates.
To address that issue, Singleton pointed to additional levels of enforcement, like the Flock Safety automated license plate reader camera system that Temple University police use.
“One of the things that I’m advocating for here, and working on the finances for, are automated license plate readers, which are very, very helpful. In fact, we’ve had some situations here where it would have been beneficial if we had them. I’m willing to pay for them myself.”
Flock Safety is a private company that operates a cloud-based system of license plate readers and its own infraction database, which thousands of police departments pay to install and use.
“We’re also working on a Flock system. We’re working through the process right now with the general counsel… So we’re working on those things to try to help us because technology obviously improves police work, and so will help us to be able to better enforce these things,” he said.
Just over the weekend of Nov. 29-30, Singleton said the department had made eight car stops for speeding or running red lights. To date this year, DUPD has made 422 car stops and issued 134 citations.
“We’re going to continue that effort,” he said, adding that officers had been paying attention to trouble spots like illegal right turns from John F. Kennedy Boulevard. But he also acknowledged room for further enforcement measures and improved physical infrastructure.
“[E]ven the possibility [for] not just red light cameras and automated speed cameras, but also pedestrian median islands may be something that they’re gonna have to consider, because Market Street is a very large street to cross, and there’s no breaks, right?”
“You’ve got to cross a four-lane highway and watch for traffic in two directions. They should consider some pedestrian median islands along Market Street. Those are the types of things that I’m advocating for, within the city.”
But he also pointed out that PPD has its own responsibility to help out along the corridor.
“Another thing, lastly, I’ll say that I’m asking the city to participate with us in enforcing the traffic laws along Market Street. I know they’re busy. They have a lot of crime that they’re responding to, and so do we, but we’ve got to dedicate some enforcement effort along Market Street.”
Many of these improvements have long lead times and require funding or the pursuit of competitive grants, suggesting that it is unlikely that Market Street will see significant upgrades in the short term. Headway is being made, but the lack of significant progress towards improving pedestrian safety has come at a price. While upgrades might not be coming soon, the memories of the two fatal crashes will not fade so soon, either.