Fort Bragg soldier pushing for more sidewalks following deadly hit-and-run: 'It's not safe to cross'

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Every day, thousands of people in Fayetteville make their way from "point A" to "point B" in their cars.

"Like before, I just never thought about it. And, you know, you get behind a vehicle, they call it the windshield bias. And, you know, everybody drives, so this is just the way it is," Army Master Sgt. Ben Hultquist said.

Hultquist knows the danger firsthand.

"I ride my bike down Reilly Road every day," he said.

Hultquist said for many other people, walking and biking are the only options. When he transferred from Korea to Fort Bragg, Hultquist noticed the lack of crosswalks along Reilly Road, and he noticed a lot of pedestrian fatalities.

"It's not safe to cross. And people may get impatient and they cross, and it ends their life," he told ABC11.

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Just last Saturday night, that tragedy played out again along the same stretch of road Hultquist bikes every day, when a pedestrian tried to cross the road at about 8:30 pm.

Fayetteville police said the person was hit by a car and later died at the hospital. The car, a white Kia Forte, took off.

"It's it seems so normalized here that people don't seem to care about the loss of life where it's completely avoidable," Hultquist said.

According to Fayetteville Police, between 2023 and 2024, the number of pedestrians killed tripled from five to 15, becoming the leading cause of traffic fatalities.

Ben spoke about his concerns at a city council meeting as he and his group, called "Strong Towns Fayetteville," want more done to make the city safer for people traveling on foot.

"We've got to prioritize safety over speed. We have to install signals, crosswalks that stop vehicles, not just paint on the road, but have red lights to actually stop vehicles so that people can cross safely," he said.