Updated 3:30pm
Austin police have released the name of the second victim in the deadly motorcycle crash that killed UT football player Cedric Benson. Police say 27-year-old Aamna Najam was also killed in that crash.
Former Texas Longhorn football player Cedric Benson was pronounced dead over the weekend following a fiery crash at the intersection of 2222 and Mount Bonnell. The crash happened at one of two Mount Bonnell intersections off of 2222. While one of those intersections farther west does have a stoplight, the other does not, and it was there in which Benson and a female were killed when a car pulled out in front of them. Now, many people who live nearby say something needs to be done.
“People drive very fast, there’s hardly an visibility from that side of the street,” resident Josh Boles told KVUE in a recent interview. “So, we only use this intersection to take a right onto 2222.” And Boles is not alone. In that same interview, another man who lives nearby, David Stojanik, echoed similar sentiments.
“Here, I just usually go right because crossing left is — it’s scary,” he said.
That intersection poses a particular danger because drivers are coming over a hill at high speeds, and officials say it can be very difficult to spot a vehicle turning onto 2222 from Mount Bonnell before it’s too late. It’s believed Benson’s death was likely the result of both speed and that low-visibility.
Benson’s death has renewed calls for a new traffic light to be installed at that particular intersection, or, at the very least, a sign prohibiting drivers from making a left turn into the eastbound lanes of 2222. It’s not known if officials have any plans to grant those requests.
Cedric Benson was 36 years old.
