'Finding solutions': Residents share traffic safety concerns after recent tragedies

“After Leslie and Elliott, people don’t know what to do,” Bozeman resident Courtney Johnson said.

Johnson was speaking at a neighborhood safety meeting at Bozeman’s Fire Station 3 on Monday.

The meeting took place just a block away from West Oak Street, where Leslie Brown was struck and killed by a distracted driver Feb 26.

And less than a month ago, 12-year-old Elliott McCann was hit by a car while on his bike on Babcock Street. He was airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City and is now recovering back home in Bozeman.

The informal meeting allowed people to come when they could, bring their children, and speak to fellow parents and neighbors. Deputy Mayor Douglas Fischer and County Commissioner Jennifer Madgic attended along with Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp and Nick Ross, director of transportation and engineering.

Johnson wanted the meeting to be “provide a place where people can come together” and discuss car safety in the area.

She and 10 to 12 neighbors organized the meeting and created five stations around the room with maps of west Bozeman, from roughly the intersection of West Oak and North 27th to the east and Huffine Lane to the south.

Next to each map was a place to answer questions on sticky notes. The questions were: What are your safety concerns? How do we solve this? What is working? Questions for the city? And where do you live/work/play?

Anne Tyler, a neighbor and parent, said people plow through school bus stops and drive too fast. She worries about cars not stopping for buses and feels “fear for (her) child’s life.”

“Crossing the street in these intersections is very concerning,” Tyler said.

Richard Smith waits at the crosswalks by Meadowlark Elementary School with Johnson and says he nearly gets hit by a car several times per month.

“I’m terrified that my children will lose focus,” Smith said about the vigilance needed to navigate crossing the street.

Smith is designing an app called SafeCross Bozeman. In a proposal he brought to the meeting, he wrote that the app would “capture near misses, unsafe driving behaviors, and hazardous street conditions.”

“This shouldn’t be about blame, it should just be about finding solutions,” he said.

Veltkamp answered questions about car safety. When Madgic asked why speeding tickets are so cheap, he said fines are set by state law and vary depending on speed and the street.

“Some of them are very low,” Veltkamp agreed.

When asked what can be done to fix distracted driving, Veltkamp said “people just need to take responsibility.” He said drivers think they are safe enough to let themselves be distracted.

Since the police department’s traffic enforcement unit was created in the fall, Veltkamp said the community has noticed the efforts. He said traffic stops change behavior and act as a reminder to drive carefully.

Madgic said events like the safety meeting are important because they help with “connecting people with problems to people with solutions” and that they “(help) make the community better.”

She said the Bozeman City Commission “absolutely” discusses transportation safety and that it impacted budget decisions and items on the ballot, including a public safety mill levy from 2024, which did not pass. But she added the Commission needs help finding ways to fund traffic calming and enforcement.