ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said it is working on figuring out if speeding was a factor in the fatal two-car crash that happened downtown on Thursday night.
Bent street signs and leftover car parts, the remnants of the deadly two-car crash on Convention Plaza.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge of the 14th Ward is one of many city leaders who said they are frustrated about the problem.
"We really need to start looking at it not as traffic violence, but as a violent pandemic that we have here," Aldridge said.
On Thursday night, police said a man crashed into another car and his vehicle rolled onto its roof.
The driver who has not yet been identified, died at the hospital. The other driver was seriously injured.
It happened not far from where Janae Edmonson lost her legs after attending a volleyball tournament, and weeks after a mother and daughter were killed in a crash after the Drake concert on 18th and Olive.
"St. Louis has some very long blocks and just because you have a camera at the end of the block may not catch the person so how do we start to upgrade our infrastructure," Aldridge said.
"I am the sponsor of (Board Bills) 105 and 106," Alderman Shane Cohn of the 3rd Ward said.
Cohn introduced bills for automated cameras and to create a neighborhood traffic safety improvement fund.
“When they were introduced, I was clear that we would be taking into consideration the Missouri Supreme Court ruling that took away our ability to have automated camera enforcement and address the nuisances and the civil liberties for folks living in the city," Cohn said.
During a Friday Board of Aldermen meeting, several bills were discussed, including ones on speed humps and the Automated Camera Enforcement Act.
But Aldridge said the solution is to put boots back on the ground. He proposed roundtables and rehabilitation for dangerous drivers.
"How do we rehabilitate people on driving, in a safer way, just like we look at rehabilitation with substance abuse? he asked. "We need to look at the same thing when it comes to traffic violence."
The next board meeting will be on March 8, which will be the last day to introduce board bills for the legislative session.