x
Breaking News
More () »

Fatal hit-and-run in SE Portland was preventable, advocates say

Police said there was a record-setting 50 traffic fatalities in Portland last year.

More than 16 hours after a fatal crash, Portland police were still searching for the white, four-door sedan that they say hit and killed a woman as she walked through a marked crosswalk at Southeast 148th Avenue and Stark Street.

The driver sped off, and she died on the pavement.

“Man, how could they do something like that? That lady was old,” said Devon Campbell-Williams, who saw the woman’s body lying in the street. “It doesn't matter if she's slow or something like that. Have a heart. Pull over.”

Background: Hit and run kills woman in East Portland crosswalk

Portland police haven’t released the identity or age of the woman killed.

They also haven’t said yet what they believe caused the crash. They did point out the woman was following all traffic signals.

People who live near the intersection said Thursday it’s a dangerous spot.

“They go on, and as soon as you get half way across the street, they're off. They're telling you, you can't walk,” Ollie Davis said of the walk signals. "You walk off in the middle of the street to keep from getting hit.”

And it’s details like that, that drive pedestrian rights advocates crazy.

“It's just frustrating that we're not going in the right direction,” said Izzy Armenta, a transportation justice advocate with the group Oregon Walks.

Last year was a record-setting for the City of Portland with 50 traffic fatalities, according to police.

In the last week, authorities have reported three pedestrian crashes in the metro area, including one that killed a father of two in Gresham.

Another in Vancouver left the pedestrian with “serious injuries”.

Armenta and his colleagues say the focus should first be on Portland’s high crash corridors, a network of a few dozen thoroughfares where, city officials agree, wrecks are way too common.

Southeast Stark Street is one of them. On Thursday, officials with PBOT said the city plans to spend $10 million in 2018 making improvements along that and other high crash corridors.

It’s part of Portland’s Vision Zero plan, adopted in 2016, through which officials hope to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2025.

Armenta acknowledged changes as substantial as those laid out in Vision Zero take time and money, but nearly two years after the plan’s adoption, he said he expected to see more changes and lower crash rates.

In the case of Thursday’s, for instance, he argued any number of small improvements may have prevented a fatal crash.

“It could be street design that didn't help. Maybe there wasn't enough lighting. Maybe there should have been a sidewalk bump-out that could have forced the driver to slow down and not make a fast right-angle turn. I don't know,” he said. “But just because the pedestrian wasn't at fault, there could still be changes to eliminate those fatalities.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out