The Rochester men who were struck by a drunk driver while walking down a Park Avenue sidewalk early Sunday morning are just two of an alarming number of recent victims of pedestrian accidents in the area. What do they all have in common? The drivers of the vehicles were intoxicated.

The woman who struck the two men, 21-year-old Meghan Shortsleeve of Fairport, has been charged with DWI. According to WHAM 13 News, Shortsleeve was driving eastbound on Park Avenue when she drove off the road and onto the sidewalk. The accident occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday, near Vick Park A and Rutgers Street.

According to The Democrat and Chronicle, John Reed and Joseph Aladeen, both 23, were transported to Strong Memorial Hospital, where they were treated for leg injuries. As of Monday afternoon, both men were in satisfactory condition.
“My son and his friend made the decision to go out and have a good time, but they chose to walk home and this girl got behind the wheel,” Mary Jo Reed, John Reed’s mother, told WHAM 13 News. “They were just innocent bystanders. It could’ve happened to anybody but they really were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

There is one pedestrian injury about every seven minutes in the U.S., and this is just one of at least three incidents in Rochester in the past month that involved an intoxicated driver and a pedestrian death or injury.
According to TWC News, on September 24th, 72-year-old Carol Shabbarrasi was struck and killed by a car as she was crossing Monroe Avenue in Brighton. The motorist, 60-year-old Victor Nowrocki of Rochester, was charged with both DWI and vehicular manslaughter. Police said that after the accident, Nowrocki admitted to having had three glasses of wine before driving, was staggering, and his speech was slurred.

Just a few days later, according to TWC News, Jonathan Rivera, 26, was struck in a hit-and-run accident on Hudson Avenue in Rochester. He later died of his injuries at Strong Memorial Hospital. Police said that 22-year-old Tycresha Robinson fled the scene and failed to report the accident. She was arrested a few days later and allegedly admitted to police that she had been drinking before the accident and knew that she had hit something.

The common denominator in all of these cases is alcohol, and therefore, Monroe County is making efforts to help reduce instances of DWI.

Recently, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks emphasized the use of the “Have a Plan” app, which was released in conjunction with the end-of-summer DWI crackdown in Monroe County. The app is intended to help users find safe rides home and provide tools to help them avoid driving under the influence. The app is free for iPhone, Droid, and Windows platforms.

The app itself features tools like an impairment estimator, skill tests like “Backwards It Spell,” “Steady Now,” “Fill ‘er Up,” and “Pile High,” which are cleverly titled cognitive and physical agility tests. It also provides users with myths and facts about DWI.

As of Monday afternoon, the app had 500 downloads on Google Play, but reception of the app has been lukewarm. The app has a relatively small number of reviews, but it is only rated as 2.3 out of 5 stars.

“The games are impossible sober,” one reviewer wrote. “The estimator range is so wide that it’s meaningless.”
“Great idea gone wrong,” wrote another.

The fact that DWI is a problem in Monroe County goes without saying. The Have a Plan app is a step in the right direction, but it seems like greater efforts need to be made to help reduce the amount of drunk driving in Rochester — and the tragic consequences that can come from it.