ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With a history of crashes, the stretch of 5th Avenue North in front of St. Petersburg High School has our Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson’s attention this week.

With all the conversations about Vision Zero and bringing roadway deaths to zero, it seems as though those lessons are lost on some St. Petersburg drivers who race through active crosswalks with people in them.

Jeremy Ruark says he fell in love with the Kenwood neighborhood when he moved to the area two years ago.

“I’ve lived in Northern Virginia my whole life, and I met maybe a handful of my neighbors.” said Ruark. “And I lived here maybe two weeks before people are knocking on my door. ‘Who are you? What do you do? We want to know you. We want to meet your dog.’ So, it’s an awesome sense of community.”

Ruark, who is primarily a pedestrian, frequently crosses 5th Avenue North at 25th Street North.

“Living here and walking across the street to get to the Grand Central District… like the first time I even walked across the street, it’s kind of like playing Frogger,” he said. “And I thought, ‘Oh there’s a crosswalk and the lights are here, you can just press it and walk across.’ And it’s not that way.”

When Chuck and Ruark crossed 5th Avenue North at 11 a.m., which is not a peak travel time, Ruark had already pressed the ‘walk’ button, and while one car had time to stop, it did not.

Another car made a hard right onto 5th Avenue North from 25th Street, also going right past the crosswalk.

Then, Chuck observed that the driver of a pickup truck was frustrated that the driver in front of him had stopped, then honked his horn, tried to race around, only to realize Ruark was there.

When Chuck and Ruark walked back, they were halfway across the street in clear view of another car when amber beacons flashed in the driver’s face as she continued straight through the intersection.

With St. Petersburg High School being located right at that intersection, this is even more of a reason for concern.

“Actually, if you video tape this area around school time with all the signs flashing for people to slow down, they don’t slow down,” said Ruark.

Chuck said according to the St. Petersburg Police Department, there have been 58 crashes on between 21st Street and 34th Street over the past five months. Three of them were fatal. The intersection of 34th Street and 5th Avenue North was ranked as the second worst intersection in the city for the month of February. The traffic division targets the highest crash areas for extra enforcement.

Chuck urges pedestrians to never step out into a crosswalk until being certain the cross traffic has stopped. While pedestrians have the “right” to be there, they will not win a battle against a moving car.

Wait, then walk.