After the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, denied requests to paint crosswalk lines at an intersection popular among pedestrians, Kevin Cox, a retired crossing guard, decided to take matters into his own hands by placing spray chalk lines in the shape of a crosswalk. He’s since been charged with intentional destruction of property, a Class I misdemeanor, and faces a sentence of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
Cox’s temporary crosswalk was placed at the intersection of Elliott Avenue and Second Street, which is often used by pedestrians visiting the Ix Art Park but does not have any painted crosswalk lines. Although 900 residents petitioned in October 2024 for a crosswalk to enhance safety following a fatal pedestrian-car crash at a nearby intersection, city officials responded by saying that pedestrians should cross at either First Street or Sixth Street, roughly 400 or 500 feet away, respectively, where painted crosswalks already exist.
Irritated by the city’s inaction, Cox, an outspoken pedestrian advocate, placed his chalk lines in May 2025. “There is a marked crosswalk now at Second Street and Elliot Avenue in spite of you,” he told the city manager, Sam Sanders, in an email sent that same day. “It’s chalk, not paint. Please replace it with a real one,” reported 29News, a local NBC affiliate.
Police said they couldn’t determine if the lines were permanent paint, according to the police report Cox shared with 29News, leading the city to cover them with black paint. Cox later turned himself in to the Charlottesville Police Department. “They have provoked me,” Cox told 29News, “it’s not going to stop me.”
Pedestrian fatalities hit a 40-year high in 2022, increasing by 50 percent from 1.55 to 2.33 per 100,000 population since 2013. While there are several contributing factors, including larger vehicles with impaired visibility and high-speed roadways, some blame distracted driving. This has led 31 states to pass laws prohibiting device usage while driving since 2010.
Other government solutions range from the innocuous, like increased lighting at intersections, to the more controversial, like California’s vetoed car speed alarm bill or a $48 million proposal for new federal regulations. Placing one’s preferred road markings is a risky choice given the potential for increasing, rather than decreasing, overall safety.
However, the tiff between Cox and Charlottesville officials isn’t about whatever destruction of property or any safety concerns the temporary chalk lines may have caused. Rather, at the heart of the dispute is the age-old tension over who has the final say on how society ought to function: so-called government experts or the people living under their policies. “This is about much more than a crosswalk,” Cox told The Daily Progress. “It’s about how the city excludes pedestrians and often cyclists from street planning.”
