KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Doug Shafer’s hands were shaking so much he couldn’t even dial 911 late Thursday morning when he witnessed a car hit a woman riding an electric scooter at 51st Street and Troost Avenue.
"I screamed loud and lengthy at least three times before I could even get out of the car," Shafer said. "It was hard and awful to witness."
The woman on the scooter, Yuxi Wu, died.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City confirmed Wu was a graduate student working toward a music degree in piano performance.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department said they suspect the driver of the car was impaired. The department hasn’t announced any charges.
Shafer lives east of the UMKC Volker Campus. He said the intersection where the crash took place is dangerous.
"This is like Highway 71-B basically," he said.
There’s a painted crosswalk on the south side of the intersection with blinking lights above crosswalk signs on either side of the road.
The other three sides of the intersection do not have painted crosswalks, although there are signs indicating a crosswalk on the north side.
Police said Wu was crossing east to west on the north side of the intersection in the unmarked crosswalk.
“Every time I cross, either I give a thank you thumbs up to somebody or I say, 'Hey, it’s a crosswalk,' and try to educate drivers one crosswalk at a time," Shafer said.
Iain Blair took matters into his own hands.
The UMKC graduate student studying civil engineering saw paramedics help a man who’d been hit by a car at the intersection in 2022.
He followed Kansas City’s Public Improvements Advisory Committee [PIAC] application process to get the blinking crosswalk warning signs approved.
The city installed them earlier this year.
"Civil engineers can do their best with design," Blair said. "But I think ultimately, the culture of speeding and treating Kansas City streets as though it is a racetrack has a lot to do with it."
Since 2022, KCMO has dedicated $7 million to an initiative called Vision Zero.
The goal is to change infrastructure in a way that eliminates traffic deaths by 2030.
Records show the city rebuilt the sidewalks around the intersection of 51st and Troost as part of the Vision Zero initiative.
All four corners of the intersection now have ramps with tactile warning strips leading to the marked and unmarked crosswalks.
This year, the city received a federal Safe Streets for All grant.
Leaders are using money from the grant to review the speed limits on several main roads.
A city spokesperson confirmed Friday several locations along Troost, including near the intersection of 50th Street, are part of the review.
"I really hope it leads to some change because it needs to change," Tory Lanham said, "It’s very unsafe."
Lanham, a sophomore at UMKC, is on the track team.
He runs 100 meters in less than 11 seconds, but still worries about crossing this roughly 20 meter wide intersection.
He’s hopeful for a solution like a traffic signal to improve the intersection.
KCPD said this is the fourth crash at the intersection of 51st and Troost this year. There were eight crashes there in 2023.
Wu's death was the second fatal crash involving an electric scooter this year, according to a police spokesperson.
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KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
