Elizabeth Pedigo is afraid to walk from her Scott Way home and cross Gordon Avenue.

“It’s a dangerous place to cross,” she said.

Engineers for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet met Thursday morning on Gordon Avenue to study road safety between Veterans Memorial Lane and Double Springs Road following the March 30 death of 10-year-old Giselle Arias who was struck and killed by an SUV while she was trying to cross Gordon Avenue from a Bowling Green Housing Authority community to shops across the street near the intersection with Scott Way.

Anytime there is a fatality or other serious incident on a state roadway, the transportation cabinet conducts a safety audit of the area to see what if any changes can be made to make the roadway safer, according to Wes Watt, spokesman for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green.

“We are doing a major part of our safety audit on this part of the roadway today,” Watt said about the group of engineers who gathered just feet from a makeshift roadside memorial left in Giselle’s memory. “We are physically taking a look at the crosswalks, the roadway, the sidewalks and the intersections.

“We are trying to move as quickly as we can to get solutions and get the right solutions,” Watt said.

There is a flashing light at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Scott Way that in one direction flashes red and in another flashes yellow. But residents would like to see something more. They like the idea of a crossing button like those on downtown Bowling Green streets that would make the lights red in all directions so that pedestrians can more safely cross the street.

“I’m scared for my kids,” Pedigo said. “I’m scared to let my grandchildren go up to the sidewalk. They need to put something up.”

Pedigo’s daughter Ariel Pedigo, who has children of her own, frequently visits her mother’s Scott Way home and was in a nearby Jr. Food store at the time that Giselle was struck and killed.

“I couldn’t talk. I was so shaken up,” Ariel Pedigo said. She saw the Chevrolet SUV hit the little girl and went running to the girl’s home to tell her parents. But due to a language barrier, she was unable to directly talk to the child’s parents. Someone translated for her. Her heart broke as she saw Giselle’s father weep for his little girl.

Giselle is survived by a twin sister, and the incident hit Ariel Pedigo hard because she also has a set of identical twins. “It hurts me bad,” she said.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen somebody get hit,” she said about Gordon Avenue. She once witnessed an elderly woman in an electric scooter get hit when a truck jumped the curb onto the sidewalk and struck the woman.

Bowling Green Police have worked five wrecks in that general area in five years including the incident that claimed Giselle’s life, BGPD spokesman Officer Ronnie Ward said. Two of the five wrecks caused injury. The only wreck involving a pedestrian in that time frame was the wreck involving Giselle.

Ariel will cross Gordon Avenue on foot but says she closely watches the road while attempting to cross. Her mother, Elizabeth Pedigo, will not attempt to cross it on foot. She has her father come to pick her up in his car whenever she needs to get across the road.

“I won’t go across it,” she said. “There’s too much traffic.”

Aisha Abdulkadar, 16, who lives on Scott Way, also walked up on the incident involving Giselle minutes after it happened. 

Like the Pedigos, she would like to see the state install a crossing button to help pedestrians get across the road. She said it often takes several minutes to wait for traffic to clear.

“I have to wait until they pass, all of the them, until I don’t see cars around,” Abdulkadar said about crossing Gordon Avenue.

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.

Dear Acting Secretary Thomas,

After the tragic death of ten-year-old Giselle Arias in a traffic accident at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Scott Way in Bowling Green, KY, it is my opinion, and that of many others in the community, that a traffic signal should be installed at this intersection. Therefore, I strongly urge that a traffic signal with a pedestrian crossing button be set at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Scott Way as soon as possible. There is currently a similar mechanism at University Boulevard at the Western Kentucky University campus and it has been highly effective and successful.

While I understand that other options are being considered to remedy the danger at this intersection, they are either inadequate or impractical. A traffic signal like the one I have described is practical and will be effective in allowing people of all ages, particularly children, to safely cross at the intersection. I am confident it will reduce injuries and perhaps prevent other fatalities.

I strongly urge the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to install a traffic signal with a pedestrian crossing button at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Scott Way in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I have also shared these concerns with Chief District Engineer Greg Meredith in Bowling Green.

Thank you for considering my urgent request. I have also I look forward to a reply soon.

Sincerely,

Jody Richards

Changes considered in road where child died