18th worst metro area<\/a> for pedestrian fatalities in the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nI couldn\u2019t quickly find stats for pedestrians, but perhaps reducing it to numbers misses the point. El Paso isn\u2019t the worst place for traffic deaths, or for pedestrian deaths caused by a vehicle running into them. But it\u2019s by far not the best, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pedestrians are usually blamed for the death. This is often because they did not cross at a designated crosswalk. I used the phrase \u201cpedestrian deaths caused by a vehicle running into them\u201d because that is accurate, regardless of the cause of the vehicle running into a person.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what happened to Tury, but I do know that people often speed through Sunset. I do know that El Paso doesn\u2019t have enough crosswalks, and that people don\u2019t look out for pedestrians or bikes, and that El Paso once was built for people who drive, walked, took streetcars and trolleys, maybe biked, and now it is built almost exclusively for cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have many questions about what happened. The facts will come out. I also have questions about what we collectively can do. Sunset Heights is next to I-10, and if the highway is expanded, we expect that during construction there will be even more people speeding through our neighborhood as traffic is detoured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
El Paso has great plans \u2013 Vision Zero, a global movement that seeks to get to zero traffic deaths, is one \u2013 but the political will isn\u2019t there to implement it fully, or to challenge the status quo that sees the city sprawl ever further and become every more car-dependent. The political will isn\u2019t there to properly fund Sun Metro, which must be creative to maintain its level of service and is undergoing a review of which lines it will maintain or improve or delete. That isn\u2019t a choice the agency should have to make.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association is part of a coalition of local organizations opposing I-10 expansion called the El Paso Streets Coalition. Whether it\u2019s I-10 or East Montana, what is the alternative, one may ask?<\/p>\n
There are actually alternatives, plural. One involves cars. Investing in safer street design \u2013 for example, narrower lanes and slower speed limits are two easy concepts, although not easy to implement because \u2026 we build for cars to go further and faster. That is less safe for both pedestrians and drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other is getting cars off the road by giving people alternatives \u2013 frequent, reliable mass transit that is coupled with sidewalks and other pedestrian and bicycle supporting infrastructure. El Paso is a bit of an under-the-radar bike mecca for recreational riders, but we also have a population of people who ride as transportation.<\/p>\n
Too many places in El Paso don\u2019t have sidewalks, let alone curb cuts to make the sidewalks accessible for everyone. I reported to 311 a dumpster blocking the sidewalk in the 700 block of North El Paso on Jan. 21. The last update is Jan. 28 and states it is still in progress. I can pass on the sidewalk, but a person in a wheelchair would be unable to pass, and they would be stranded on the bridge over I-10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m guessing that in El Paso there are hundreds if not thousands of such minor obstructions that have a big impact if you\u2019re the one who is stuck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sunset Heights is not unique in this regard. As a community, we lack the political will to make changes that make it safer for people to move around, not just more expedient for cars to move. We all need some Vision Zero. We all need to slow down.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know where Tury was headed or where he was coming from Wednesday afternoon. Maybe he was headed to Mundy Park, where he presided, where he gave nicknames to people, especially the basketball kids. He called my son Shooter, and when I saw him he\u2019d ask,\u201dAy, how\u2019s my man Shooter?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Saturday, residents will gather in Mundy to pray the rosary for Arturo Frias Moreno, a man with a name and a deep history. We will miss him, and hope he will still be watching over the park and the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sito Negron is a resident of Sunset Heights and is Secretary of the Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2026\/02\/07\/opinion-sunset-heights-pedestrian-death-el-paso-vision-zero\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/elpasomatters.org”>El Paso Matters<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elpasomatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cropped-epmatters-favicon2.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sito-Negron-e1683029758618-678x1024.jpg\")
Sito Negron<\/p>\n