Stevenson High Student Hit in Crosswalk: What Is Sterling Heights Doing to Protect Student Pedestrians?

At about 7:30 a.m. July 14, 2024, a Stevenson High School student was crossing Dodge Park Road at Falcon Drive in a marked crosswalk when a northbound vehicle struck her. Firefighters found her conscious and alert. She was treated at the scene for leg and hip pain, then taken to a local hospital in stable condition with a broken pelvis that required surgery.

Sterling Heights police said speed, alcohol and drugs did not appear to be factors. That leaves a harder question for parents and students who use the crossing: Did it give drivers enough warning and pedestrians enough protection?

The investigation remains open. Anyone with information can contact Sterling Heights Police Officer Palmer at 586-446-2920.

The crossing at 39701 Dodge Park Road sits beside Stevenson High School. It was marked when the student was hit, but the additional pedestrian-safety infrastructure now at the location had not yet been installed.

Three months later, on Oct. 15, 2024, Sterling Heights held a ribbon-cutting for a pedestrian-activated safety crosswalk at the site. The project added four Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons along Dodge Park Road near Falcon Drive — pedestrians press a button to activate flashing lights that warn approaching drivers. The city also installed curb extensions as a pilot, designed to improve sightlines between drivers and pedestrians while shortening the crossing distance. A mural crosswalk by artist Wendy Popko was added to make the crossing more visible and encourage community engagement.

City officials described the work as a traffic-safety pilot meant to curb speeding and make the route safer for students. Motorist speeding had been identified as the main problem the pilot was meant to address, and the improvements had already been flagged as a community priority. The Stevenson project was the first installation of its kind in Sterling Heights.

For families, the timing is impossible to ignore. Beacons, curb extensions and a higher-visibility crossing are now in place where a student suffered a serious injury. They arrived after the crash.

The city has not publicly identified earlier pedestrian crashes, near-misses or formal parent complaints at Dodge Park Road and Falcon Drive before July 2024, nor has it published systematic citywide tracking of pedestrian incidents near schools.

Sterling Heights adopted its first Comprehensive Transportation Safety Action Plan on March 17, 2024, with the goal of achieving Vision Zero — eliminating all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2050. It is the first city in Macomb County to implement a Vision Zero initiative. The plan uses the Safe System Approach, combining strategic planning, engineering advancements and community engagement, and advances a citywide Traffic Calming Program featuring speed cushions, traffic circles, medians, curb extensions and rectangular rapid flashing beacons.

The issue is not whether those tools exist. It is whether the city will identify dangerous school crossings and install them before a student is badly hurt.

Robert S. Monroe, Superintendent of Utica Community Schools, said keeping students safe is a priority and that recent safety measures are intended to "significantly improve the safety of our students walking to and from Stevenson High School."

Mayor David M. Kozlowski said the goal is for residents to "drive, walk and bike with confidence in their safety."

The city has also outlined a $10 million project along 4.5 miles of Clinton River Road between Van Dyke Avenue and Hayes Road, supported by $7.5 million in federal Congressionally Designated Spending and $2.5 million in state road funding. Plans include geometric and intersection changes, signal modernization with countdown pedestrian signals, traffic-calming measures, and non-motorized path and sidewalk upgrades. That investment points to broader safety work underway but does not answer when other school-adjacent crossings will receive comparable protection.

Sterling Heights has not publicly said whether the Stevenson crosswalk improvements were already planned before the July 2024 crash or whether the crash accelerated the timeline, nor whether it will conduct a safety audit of other school-zone crossings or set a timeline to prioritize similar upgrades.

Those are the questions residents should demand answers to before another student is hurt.

Sterling Heights City Council meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at City Hall, 40555 Utica Road. Residents can contact Mayor Kozlowski and city council members directly at 586-446-2420 to press for accountability on school-zone pedestrian safety. Dangerous conditions at school crossings can be reported to the Sterling Heights Police Department at 586-446-2920, and requests for traffic-calming measures or crosswalk improvements can be directed to the Department of Public Works at 586-446-2360. Parents can also coordinate with Superintendent Monroe to advocate jointly for crossing improvements near district schools.

The Falcon Drive crossing has been upgraded. The unresolved test is whether Sterling Heights will identify and protect other school routes before another family has to ask why the safety measures came after a student was struck.