Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Person on Foot Struck and Killed in Crash on Market St Off-Ramp

Something's going on near the Market Street interchange with I-5. Drivers have struck and killed three people there in the last few months, most recently on Wednesday morning.

Market Street and I-5 is incredibly hostile
for people on foot

In the paper on Thursday

From Oregon State Police:

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at approximately 4:13 A.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to the report of a motor vehicle crash on Interstate 5 at the northbound Market St. Interchange.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a female pedestrian was in the off-ramp lane of traffic when she was struck by a Honda Civic, operated by Nicholas Kreitzer (46) of Salem, that was exiting the freeway.

Kreitzer stopped and cooperated with the investigation.

The female pedestrian was pronounced deceased.

Name will be released when available.

There's a real lack of information on the cluster. One person's name was never published. They may not have been identified, but the initial crash reports also blamed the person on foot, as if a suicide or personally very careless.

It may be that there is an encampment nearby and the lack of information is an expression of bias against people in crisis.

It's also hard to analyze walking safety on a controlled access, high-speed roadway. If Market Street itself is clearly an urban street and should be more comfortable and more safe for people on foot, the Interstate is one place where cars are rightly prioritized.

This post may be updated.

Killed in 2020

Killed in 2019
Killed in 2018
Killed in 2017
Killed in 2016:
Killed in 2015:

1 comment:

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

Updated with aerial image of the interchange and with more notes on a cluster of deaths there.