{"id":389741,"date":"2026-09-03T23:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T23:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389741\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T23:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T23:14:20","slug":"these-are-real-people-residents-demand-safer-streets-as-pedestrian-deaths-climb-in-duval-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389741\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018These are real people\u2019: Residents demand safer streets as pedestrian deaths climb in Duval County"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Pedestrian deaths are rising in Duval County, and residents say they are increasingly worried about walking or biking near busy roads.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Police looking for driver involved in deadly hit-and-run on Capper Road<\/a><\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said a woman was struck early Wednesday on Capper Road near Wingate and later died at a hospital. Authorities said the driver of a dark-colored SUV left the scene. The crash is the latest in a troubling trend: JSO reported 21 pedestrian deaths at this point last year and 30 so far this year.<\/p>\n

Neighbors who regularly walk and ride bikes in the area said drivers often ignore traffic signals and posted speeds, putting pedestrians at risk. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are real people \u2014 their lives are at risk. Don\u2019t take another person\u2019s life as a joke,\u201d Jowel Rodriguez said, a resident who often walks in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez described an incident in which he and his brother tried to cross at a marked crosswalk while the signal displayed \u201cWalk,\u201d only to have a car speed by. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying to cross the street on the highway and nobody was looking…[The light] said walk…and it was a car just zooming so he beeped the horn mad loud like we were in the wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other residents say hit-and-run crashes are a recurring problem. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne driver hit me and ran away,\u201d Briel Cajuste, a professional driver, said. \u201cThey did that to me a lot. It seems to me that they don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July 2025, city officials unveiled the \u201cVision Zero Action Plan\u201d<\/a> aimed at preventing pedestrian deaths. The plan includes \u201cdemonstration quick-build projects\u201d and programs such as \u201c20 Is Plenty\u201d that would lower speed limits in targeted areas from 30 mph to 20 mph.<\/p>\n

Residents said they hope the measures reduce crashes and make streets safer. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to watch how you drive,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cSome people don\u2019t pay attention to the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Pedestrian deaths are rising in Duval County, and residents say they are increasingly worried about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117,1415,1872],"class_list":["post-389741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-sheriffs-office","tag-jso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}