LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Complete Streets push put volunteers out on the streets of Louisville evaluating the streets, sidewalks and crosswalks for pedestrian safety. The nationwide movement's Louisville branch aims to amend the city's pedestrian ordinance to make streets more pedestrian friendly. 

One volunteer group with the Kentucky Youth Advocates took to the Wyandotte area near Churchill Downs to mark down their suggestions on safety improvements. In their bright yellow safety vests, holding clipboards and pencils to take notes, young people set out to try to help craft an amendment to the current ordinance. 

They say sidewalks are not consistent, and don't even exist in some areas; they claim there are not enough crosswalks, and that not all of them have sounds for the visually impaired. They also observe erratic and aggressive driving in certain places. 

In Louisville, police say 21 pedestrians were killed in 2018. So far this year, there have been 10. In Lexington, there were 14 in 2018, and there have been 2 so far in 2019.

To see Louisville's current pedestrian ordinance, click here. To see Lexington's current ordinance, click here.

“Point blank, Louisville is my home. This is the city that I love more than anything in the world. And I want my city and my home to be safe and accessible for everybody," said volunteer surveyor and Kentucky Youth Advocates intern Emilee McCubbins. “So what happens is, we have communities full of people that are disjointed and not interacting with each other and that just results in a Louisville that is less enriched, and less understanding and doesn’t know each other.”

McCubbins feels Louisville's current ordinance falls short. "The problem is that it hasn't really been followed through on," she explained. 

Metro Councilman David James is working with the group of surveyors, to be receptive to their suggestions. However, he doesn't say enforcement via penalties for safety violators is completely necessary. 

“There are areas where it’s not safe to cross the streets. And there’s some areas where it is," said James. “I think part of it is just a matter of people being educated about it about what they can and cannot do and what they should and should not do.”