This year, at least
four instances of drivers crashing into objects off the roadway have made it into the paper. Maybe there are more. These four are in addition to
the six people on foot who have been killed - and we have no idea how many non-fatal injuries have been sustained by people on foot after a driver has struck them.
If large, inanimate, stationary objects well off the roadway, like the Social Security Office, aren't safe from cars, why is there so much trouble with making the roads safe for small, living, and far more vulnerable humans who might be on bike or on foot?
Cars are dangerous. Full stop.
There's more going on here, of course. The driver, 88, might be someone better served by transit. But because of our prevailing land use here in Salem, it is difficult for elderly drivers to give up auto mobility. We don't make it easy for them to walk or bus on errands.
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| From 2013 |
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| Also 2013 |
Additionally, the specific site of the Social Security Office is even more inconvenient by bus, exiled as it is to a quasi-industrial park. So not only is it a problem in general, it's
exacerbated here by
the siting decision of a couple of years ago.
The SSA office and VA office, which sited next door, should immediately pack up and relocate downtown to a site adjacent to the transit mall. It's Vonnegut and Heller level absurdity, really.
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