Six months after he was nearly killed in a hit-and-run, Cristobal Salas still feels the pain in his leg.
On May 7, at around 9 p.m., Salas was riding his bike and pulling his 4-year-old son in a passenger trailer when the driver of a Dodge Charger ran a red light and struck another vehicle, sending it flying toward the father and son.
Salas was critically injured and required emergency surgery and a nearly monthlong hospital stay. His son, Alan Marcelo Salas-Garcia, died instantly.
The driver fled the scene but was later arrested and charged with reckless homicide and fleeing the scene of a crash.
On a recent November morning, Salas was joined by friends, neighbors and pedestrian safety advocates to remember his young son and others who have lost their lives in traffic crashes.
He and the boy’s mother, Marcela Garcia, are still grieving the loss of her child.
“My life is never going to be the same, but I remember him as a beautiful child,” said Garcia, holding back tears. “He was all of my life, and I will remember him as he was: happy.”
That crash happened about a year after city-county councilors announced plans to create a task force to achieve Vision Zero, a policy framework that aims to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries.
And now, nearly 18 months since the city officially committed to eliminating traffic deaths by 2035, there are few concrete details on how the city will get to Vision Zero. Advocates say it’s possible — if Mayor Joe Hogsett and city-county councilors live up to their promises.
“We know how to fix these intersections, if there is political will,” said Anthony Cherolis, executive director of Central Indiana Cycling.
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Getting to zero
Since the city made its commitment last year many pedestrian safety advocates increasingly have grown frustrated with what they see as a lack of progress on the issue.
“I was excited about Vision Zero when it got passed, but it doesn’t seem like the city and state are prioritizing it,” said Cassandra Crutchfield, an Irvington resident whose young daughter was killed in a crash on her way home from school in 2021. “I don’t think there’s enough money that goes towards it.”
Budget constraints and Indy’s sprawling geographic footprint — 8,400 lane miles — present challenges for achieving Vision Zero, but advocates believe it can be done by focusing on the most dangerous streets.
About 5% of the city’s streets, or 205 miles, account for nearly half of all fatal and incapacitating crashes, according to the Vision Zero Action Plan.
The crash that killed Alan Marcelo Salas-Garcia occurred on a half-mile stretch of East Raymond Street on the southeast side, between Shelby Street and South State Avenue, that has been identified as one of the city’s deadliest roadways.
That area could be made safer if city leaders prioritize safe streets, advocates say.
“When a crash happens, there’s not really any infrastructure changes that are made immediately that could be made,” said Connie Szabo Schmucker, advocacy director for Bicycle Garage Indy.
Schmucker helped lead an effort to implement safety measures at the intersection of 86th Street and the Monon Trail, where her friend, Frank Radaker, Jr., was killed while biking to work in 2021.
Missed deadlines
At its last meeting of 2025, the city’s Vision Zero Task Force passed an action plan for achieving its goals.
John Barth, the Democratic councilor who leads the group, called the passage of the 102-page document “the big crescendo” of a yearslong effort to make Indy’s streets safer for all road users.
“We’ve never had a singular tool to manage safety for all pedestrians, cyclists and all users of the road,” Barth said at the Dec. 2 meeting. “Now we have that.”
But that action plan was supposed to be passed five months earlier, which would have allowed time for officials to include funding for Vision Zero projects in the 2026 budget.
“Creating and overseeing the action plan is our most important task and must be completed by July 1, 2025,” Barth said at the task force’s first meeting in October 2024.
Barth declined Mirror Indy’s request for an interview. In response to an emailed list of questions, Barth did not address the missed deadline. He said the task force was created to bring together city agencies and community stakeholders, and that funding decisions will be decided by individual city departments.
“Now that the plan is complete, the focus shifts to implementation, working alongside agencies, community leaders, and residents to turn these commitments into real, on-the-ground safety improvements,” his statement read, in part.
LeAndre Level, who was hired as the city’s Vision Zero administrator in May, said when he was brought on, there were no dedicated Vision Zero staffers. That played a role in the task force missing the deadline, he said.
“These things take time, because the most important thing is we want to get it right, rather than try to get to the deadline,” Level told Mirror Indy.
Some pedestrian safety advocates say the missed deadline shows city leaders aren’t acting with enough urgency.
“We missed that budget window to be able to do anything for 2026,” said Eric Holt, founder of Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis, during a recent protest calling on city officials to make streets safer. “Without having that funding in place, I don’t know how we move forward.”
‘A nice piece of paper’
Aside from missed deadlines, some critics say the task force’s plan contains little in the way of measurable goals.
While it includes strategies such as creating an online dashboard to track fatalities and injuries, increasing community outreach and publishing an annual report, it doesn’t outline specific funding commitments for Vision Zero projects.
Schmucker is pleased an action plan was adopted but doesn’t believe it goes far enough.
The city needs to dedicate at least $25 million annually to areas of the city with high crash rates in order to see real progress, she said.
“The (cities) that are making progress are significantly focusing on resources and funding, and the ones that aren’t, it’s just a pipe dream and a nice piece of paper,” Schmucker said.
She points to cities such as Milwaukee, which invested tens of millions of dollars in about 100 Vision Zero projects in two years, resulting in fewer crashes and lower rates of speeding.
Although the plan doesn’t commit funding, Level said transportation safety improvements were built into the five-year capital plan for the city’s Department of Public Works. He also pointed to $500,000 that was allocated earlier this year to implement safety improvements recommended by the city’s Fatal Crash Review Team, along with $1 million toward rapid-response safety improvements that support Vision Zero efforts.
Indy DPW also recently opened applications for community powered infrastructure projects that allows neighborhoods to try out simple but effective changes to make streets safer.
An uphill battle
Beyond funding challenges, the city faces other obstacles not entirely in its control. For instance, state law prevents the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department from installing automated traffic cameras downtown, a technology Level said could help discourage dangerous driving.
“A police officer can’t be at every single corner, but we know technology can be very useful,” Level said.
IMPD Chief Chris Bailey has called on state lawmakers to allow the department to install cameras at dangerous intersections, but Republican lawmakers have said they have privacy concerns.
Rep. Blake Johnson, D-Indianapolis, filed a bill that would allow Marion County to use the devices, but it’s unclear if it will get a hearing in the Republican-dominated legislature.
The task force plans to meet next in May, at which time Level will have submitted his annual Vision Zero report to the group.
Meanwhile, advocates like Schmucker will continue to push city leaders to act with more urgency.
“I would love to see city leadership actually make a major commitment in funding to address traffic violence,” she said.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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