BUFFALO, N.Y. — There is another push to make Buffalo's streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
On nice days, Kiah Berkeley likes to get out and walk with her kids. But since moving to Buffalo nearly two years ago, she's found herself walking less.
"What have your experiences been like so far?" asked 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik.
"In Buffalo, our experience has been so incredibly stressful that I actually have avoided going for walks, which is so crummy because we just love doing it so much," Berkeley said.
It doesn't matter what neighborhood she's in, Berkeley says she's seen it all.
"What are some of the close calls you've had?" asked Dudzik.
"So it is, and I am not exaggerating when I say it's literally every single time we go for a walk, so we regularly walk for a good 40 minutes because we walk through the Elmwood Village area, the side streets, every single time we do, somebody runs a stop light or a stop sign and almost hits us. So we've had cases where I have been crossing the road with a stroller with two children in it, somebody sees us, you can see them see us, and they still decide to run the stop sign narrowly missing us," says Berkeley.
Berkeley has almost gotten hit by drivers several times.
"Had a guy the other day, he piggy backed on the other car that just went through, so the car before stopped at the stop sign, went through, and the guy behind piggy backed, so I had already started crossing and he got so enraged that he gave me the finger and then intentionally drove as close to me and my baby as he possibly could. So he narrowly missed us and it was intentional all because I was crossing at a stop sign and he didn't want to stop," says Berkeley.
Berkeley says in her opinion nothing has changed since last year when 12-year-old Marcell Yanders was hit and killed by a truck on Hampshire Street walking home from school.
"You just hear about them, people dying, pets dying, and it's always just a matter of time the way people drive here," says Berkeley.
So, neighbors organized a meeting to ask the city to do something about the dangerous drivers. The meeting is Friday, March 18 at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Summer Senior Center and anyone can attend.
2 On Your Side asked a city spokesperson if there's anything in the works to make things safer, and have not heard back.