Recent injury crash in NE Bend crosswalk puts spotlight on safety rules and laws for pedestrians, drivers
(Update: Adding video and comments from City of Bend, Bend PD)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- Two weeks ago, two students at Phagan's Beauty School in Bend were struck by a car while crossing a crosswalk on NE 27th Street and taken to St. Charles Bend for treatment.
The crash highlights the importance of crosswalk safety, for both pedestrians and drivers. And with the warmer temperatures, more people are out and about, increasing the chances of crashes.
The City of Bend has established over 100 crosswalks with islands, as just one way to help pedestrians cross safely. Other crosswalks around town have flashing lights and specific paint markings on the street. In Oregon, the rules say every corner is a crosswalk - marked or not.
"A driver needs to stop and yield to that person," Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said Tuesday. "If they fail to stop and yield to that person, that could result in a citation. That citation is failure to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk, and it's Class B violation, which is a $265 ticket."
The City of Bend has three different kinds of crosswalks around town, created specifically for each area.
Crosswalks with islands are usually used where roads have a speed limit of 35 miles per hour and two lanes of traffic are being crossed, says city Transportation Engineer Robin Lewis.
"A lot of times, there's just an ADAÂ truncated panel and the ramp for the pedestrian, and that indicates the location for the pedestrian to walk," Lewis said. "Once the speed gets higher and the traffic is higher, we add things that call to attention the pedestrian crossing at the time."
Crosswalks with flashing lights are placed in areas with five lanes of traffic, to give drivers long enough time to stop.
"It's more complicated for the person being able to communicate with both drivers in one direction," she said.
In the state of Oregon, all intersections are considered crosswalks-- marked or unmarked, meaning it's your job as the driver to be alert at all times. But it's also the pedestrian's job to know when to cross, says Miller.
"If the car is so close that they can't stop, that is the pedestrian's fault and that would be a citation as well," she said. "When you're driving, you have a big cage of steel around, you don't have that. And so it's really important as a driver, you driving is not a right, it is a privilege and you have some responsibilities."
The city says the new proposed transportation fee will help create safer crosswalks and maintain them during the winter.
