After a student died while attempting to cross Hilyard Street, questions have been raised about whether the thoroughfare is safe enough.
While Brian Reams’ death after a hit-and-run accident might not have been preventable, the city – and the students who cross Hilyard at night – should take it as a tragic wake-up call.
Hilyard street needs to be safer, and it’s time that Eugene officials take steps toward that end.
According to the 2000 census, the neighborhood west of the University has the highest population density in Eugene, and it’s no secret that a large percentage of its population is University students. Because these students need to walk to class, many of them have no choice but to cross Hilyard every day, sometimes multiple times.
Motorists don’t seem to respect the safety of pedestrians on Hilyard Street. There were 132 traffic stops on Hilyard Street during 2006, compared with 102 on adjacent Patterson Street. Additionally, Hilyard Street is the only southbound thoroughfare that connects Franklin Boulevard to the West University neighborhood, increasing its traffic to a higher level than it should.
Students are left to wait for long stretches at a time for a break in cars, or are forced to dodge traffic in order to get to campus on time. The lack of crosswalks, stop signs or traffic lights puts everyone who crosses the street at risk.
The street is constantly lined with cars obscuring the vision of passersby, forcing them to leave the safety of the sidewalk just to determine whether it is safe to cross.
At night, the problem worsens even further because of insufficient lighting. Seemingly lighted to be a residential street, the dimness decreases the already bad visibility.
Although the problem is obvious, a solution is elusive. There is some amount of contention over whether crosswalks help slow down cars. Officials in Portland added crosswalks after a street-crossing death. Eugene officials, however, have said adding that more crosswalks would not help the situation on Hilyard, contending that doing so would only serve to inure motorists to crosswalks.
A bill that would require motorists to stop for pedestrians who stick out their arm at a crosswalk passed in the Oregon Senate and has moved on to the House. Even if crosswalks aren’t the answer on Hilyard Street, legislators should take this opportunity to make crosswalks more visible to motorists.
Eugene officials, for their part, owe it to the entire West University neighborhood to find a solution to the unsafe conditions for pedestrians.