On Monday, a person driving a large pickup truck struck Christian Kennedy, who died today from the injuries, as he attempted to cross Silverton Road, a five-lane arterial.
The Sheriff's photo from Monday is of the street closure at Brown Road, not the crash site.
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| "struck by a vehicle," closure at Brown Road via Twitter |
The crash site, Silverton Road, is a zoomy stroad, signed for 40mph. It is known to be a problem area, and several years ago nearer to 47th the County installed an enhanced crosswalk with flashing beacon and center refuge.
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| This is hostile for people on foot |
From the paper's first story on Monday, which helpfully avoided the hit by car trope and used a grammatical subject (they do not seem to have published an update):
A section of Silverton Road NE is closed between 45th and 47th Avenue NE after a driver struck a pedestrian.
Emergency crews were called to the scene at about 2:13 p.m., according to dispatch logs.
Officials say the closure may last for "an extended period of time" while the incident is investigated.
The condition of the pedestrian was not yet released.
At that time there did not seem to be a release from from the Sheriff. Since then, today they have issued an updated release with the saddest of news:
On Monday, March 15th, 2021, at 2:13 p.m., deputies responded to Silverton Road NE at Brown Road NE where a pedestrian was reported to have been struck by a vehicle. As first responders arrived on scene, the 50 year-old pedestrian was found in the roadway with serious injuries. Medics from the Marion County Fire District transported the pedestrian to a local hospital.
Investigators from the Marion County Multi-Agency Crash Team responded to the scene to investigate. Preliminary information leads investigators to believe the pedestrian was crossing Silverton Road when they were struck by a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado which was turning west onto Silverton Road from Brown Road NE.
The pedestrian has been identified as Christian Kennedy, a 50-year-old man from Salem...Tragically, the pedestrian did not survive the incident, succumbing to their injuries earlier today, on March 17th, 2021.
The driver of the 2005 Chevrolet Silverado remained at the scene and was not injured during the collision. The investigation into the crash is ongoing at this time, no further information is available for release.
It's a little weird to say "the pedestrian did not survive" rather than "Kennedy did not survive." When we turn a named victim into an abstraction, "the pedestrian," and compound it by erasing the driver with the hit by car trope, it is easier to avoid facing the horror and cost of our traffic violence.
Salem Reporter uses the hit by car trope, saying, "A Salem man died Wednesday afternoon after being struck by a car March 15, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said."
This post may be updated.
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| On erasing the driver - Columbia Journalism Review |
For more discussion of language see these recent examples:
- "Headline Omits Verb, Erases the Driver; New TRB Paper Addresses Problem" (2019). This also has links to a follow-up study on framing and reader interpretation.
- See the way the story develops with different publications in "Driver Strikes and Kills Marshall Leslie on Foot near Downtown Safeway." (2019)
- "Why so much Acceptance for Traffic Cone Theory of Walking?" with discussion of a Salem Police PSA (2015)
- Notes on a City of Salem PSA this month, "City PSA on Time Change and Safety Needs Paradigm Change Itself." It has many links to the history of jaywalking also. (2019)
- On "distracted walking," "Death on Foot: Too Much on Distracted Walking Canard." (2018)
- "Why Pedestrian Rights themselves may not be Sufficient." (2015)
- Two discussions of a law review article about our system of subsidy for autoism, "The Laws for Compulsory Autoism at The Atlantic," and "Police Publish Video on How to Speed Without a Ticket." (both 2019)
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| Back in 2015 we said "troubling" but really, how troubled are we? |
Killed in 2021
- Unknown person (I-5 and Market Street interchange)
- Rachel Bunting (while operating a bus for Cherriots)
- Blake Saville (on bike)
- Jaime Le Ann Hall (on skateboard)
- Sharon Pritchard
- Mario Lopez-Lopez (walking a bike)
- Unknown person via SJ (on I-5 near Market St)
- Andrew Otho Polston (biking on Windsor Island Road)
- Jolene Braasch Berry (on bike)
- Richardo Morales Avila (in McMinnville)
- Octavious Calloway (on I-5 near Market St)
- Selma Pierce
- Hermilo Mata Jr.
- Marshall Leslie
- Linda Adamson (south Salem) and Stephanie Ashford (just outside Salem)
- Jason Libel (on bike)
- Josephine Watkins
- Rodric Kenyon Drolshagen
Killed in 2017
Killed in 2016:
- Olivia Stroup
- Jaren Nash
- Alex Armes
- Anthony Earnest
- Baxter Harrell
- Unknown (just outside Salem)
- Bradley Goad (in Silverton)
2 comments:
The paper did post an update yesterday afternoon, but did not give a home page placement.
They changed the headline to, "Salem man dies in hospital after he was struck by vehicle on Silverton Road NE near 45th."
The body of it is awkwardly revised, but does retain language about a driver, and adds detail on a turning movement, which explains the Sheriff photo on Brown Road:
"A Salem man died in the hospital Wednesday after he was struck by a driver Monday afternoon in northeast Salem, sheriff's investigators said.
Around 2:15 p.m., Marion County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a driver at Silverton and Brown roads NE.
Investigators said Christian Kennedy, 50, was crossing Silverton Road when he was struck by the driver of a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado that was turning west onto Silverton Road from Brown Road."
Brown Road is signed for 35mph, so both roads have higher urban speed limits.
This was my brother. The guy that hit him Wayne Kangus never got held accountable for this! It has taken me a year & a half to even think about this day & I found your blog. The D.A.s office never charged Kangus!! The cops say He wasn't at fault yet my brother, my beautiful brother... Because Kangus "stayed on the scene" FURTHER MORE:My brother was walking in a cross walk LEGITIMATELY LEGALLY! This man should pay with his life! I dont know what to do to right this wrong!!!
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