Charlottesville safety campaigner used chalk to draw crossing at intersection where woman was fatally hit by car
After officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, reportedly ignored his pleas to implement a pedestrian crosswalk at a dangerous intersection, traffic safety activist Kevin Cox drew a crossing with chalk.
Authorities responded by covering Cox’s handiwork with black paint and charging him with vandalism in a case that evidently demonstrates how acrimonious relations can sometimes get between local government bureaucrats in the US and those who say they are trying to hold them to account.
As the Charlottesville news station WVIR put it, Cox is well known in the community for his outspoken pedestrian safety advocacy. He had recently focused his efforts on a municipal intersection where a 64-year-old woman was struck by a motorist and killed while trying to cross the road to get to work in October.
