Person on Foot dies from Crash on Highway 22 on-ramp in West Salem

In a crash and death that might have an awful similarity to the crash and death of Alexandria Tereshka in 2018, Police today announced another pedestrian fatality near Highway 22 and Capital Manor.

Westbound Edgewater ramp to Highway 22

From Salem PD:

A west Salem resident injured in a collision with a vehicle on May 11 has died.

The collision between the pedestrian and the driver of a van occurred at the Edgewater ST NW on-ramp to westbound Salem-Dallas HW at approximately 1:25 a.m. that Saturday morning.

Officers and medical personnel responded and aided the pedestrian, identified as 62-year-old Patricia Ann Estrada. She was transported to Salem Health with life-threatening injuries.

The Salem Police Traffic Team’s preliminary investigation revealed that Estrada was positioned on the shoulder of the on-ramp and moved into the van's path as the driver proceeded to access the highway.

The van driver, Melodi Lynn Kraemer, age 43 of Dallas, called for police and stayed at the scene.

Estrada, who was hospitalized, died from her injuries on Sunday evening, May 26.

Drivers are gunning it here to attain speed for Highway 22, and the view is hemmed in. It might not be adequately lit. Additionally, despite ODOT's wishes, there are occasional campsites nearby a person might want to reach. A befuddled elderly resident of Capital Manor, too, might be out wandering.

Signed for 50mph at merge point

Highway speed is just wildly inappropriate for the urban context here. Lower speeds would allow for unexpected people — or deer or other wildlife — to become visible with greater allowances for stopping distance and greater odds of survival after any impact.

This post may be updated.

Poppy Day joins Decoration Day and Memorial Day in 1924

Back in 1924 "Poppy Day" joined "Decoration Day" and "Memorial Day" in the advertising and comment on the holiday.

Civil War Memorial, City View

May 30th, 1924

Poppy Day as an independent thing appears new here. Internationally, Poppy Day has existence independent of the US Memorial Day, and here was mostly consolidated into it.

In July of 1923 the phrase "Poppy Day" had appeared here in the wholly secular context of a "City Beautiful" and "Floral" theme for the "Salem Slogan" and "Pep and Progress" pages, but not in any Memorial Day context. This use in 1924 was new here in Salem.

The morning paper had published the famous poem, which was not new, and some extensions, which did seem new.

Safety at the MPO

A year ago the MPO project to write a Metropolitan Transportation Safety Action Plan held an open house and survey. They've published a summary now, and it is interesting to consider a little.

The Policy Committee for the MPO meets on Tuesday the 28th, but there's not really anything much to say on that agenda, so we'll talk about that safety plan instead.

Survey summary

The results in general do not seem very surprising: People feel more safe walking than biking, people really feel vulnerable while on bike, intersections are a problem, and people feel safe in their cars.

Leveraging the precarious feelings of being on bike to support better bike lanes is wholly warranted.

But should messaging also underscore that you are not as safe in your car as you might think?

A few days ago

Just a few days ago the husband or relative of retired Librarian Judy Brunkal lost control of his vehicle on Croisan Creek Road, and she died in the crash.

In February a passenger, Lynda Rohrback Bush, died when her driver apparently tried to sneak across 12th street at Oak Hill in south Salem.

The lethality of autoism claims as many lives as gun violence.

It's not just those on foot, on bike, or otherwise rolling, who are at risk.

When he was at the paper, Dick Hughes used to say "Driving is the most dangerous thing that many of us will do in our lifetimes." 

Maybe in a strict actuarial sense this isn't the best way to put it, but he was right to underscore the dangers of driving! Drivers are the author of calamity.

One of the best things a transportation safety plan could do is say loudly and often, "Driving is dangerous and employs lethal force. The drive not taken is the safest drive. As often as you can, don't drive." Not-driving meets the exigencies of our moment: Climate as well as safety.

Pushing back on the illusion of safety when a person is inside a car would be salutary.

Driver Fatally Injuries Person in Scooter attempting to Cross Liberty St NE

A driver has struck and fatally injured a person using a motorized scooter attempting to cross a zoomy urban State highway.

Liberty just south of River Street

From Salem PD yesterday the 22nd:

Emergency personnel responded to the intersection of Liberty and River STS NE at approximately 9:45 a.m. today [yesterday] on the report of a collision involving a person riding an electric-powered chair and a car.

The initial investigation by the Salem Police Traffic Team determined a woman on a motorized chair was attempting to cross Liberty ST from east to west when she was struck by a [driver operating a] vehicle traveling northbound on Liberty ST. Witnesses reported the scooter operator entered the roadway close to oncoming traffic when the crash occurred.

The woman operating the motorized chair is identified as Lois Marie Randall, age 70. Randall was transported to Salem Health where she later died from injuries received in the collision.

The driver of the vehicle, Jami Lee Duhrkoop, age 36, remained at the scene after the crash. Duhrkoop is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

Liberty here is signed for 30mph.

One more block south it's signed for 30mph

Earlier this year you may recall in an online Open House ODOT discussed an enhanced crosswalk on Academy, one block north of River Street. There is an existing marked crosswalk at Columbia for Highland Elementary School. A Bottle Drop facility is also a block away, just off River Street on Commercial.

About 1924 May Election Afternoon Paper said Invisible Government given Crippling Blow

After the May Election of 1924, the afternoon paper trumpeted the defeat of the Klan slate across the board.

May 17th, 1924

The terms they used were "invisible government," focusing on secrecy.

Earlier in May they had reported on a new Salem Klan, which had incorporated in March through Indiana rather than Atlanta, and was not affiliated with Frederick Gifford. They highlighted "secret political methods" rather than policy. They were ok with a lot of the nativism and racism. The afternoon paper's opposition to the Klan was more on style than substance, it has seemed.

May 8th, 1924

If there was enough interest to charter a new Klan group, the triumphalism of "crippling blow" may not be wholly warranted.

There was, in fact, a sense that Senator Charles McNary had struck a deal with the Klan for reelection.

A Century Ago Salemites Raised Funds for Doughboy WWI Memorial

The paper this morning has a preview of activities and ceremonies for Memorial Day. Not much mentioned is World War I.

A century ago it was all too fresh. Back in the first week of May in 1924 Salemites formalized plans to fund the World War I "Doughboy" Memorial.

Salem Library Historic Photos

May 6th, 1924

The statue would be one identical to one in McMinnville, except it would have a grenade, which those in McMinnville decided to edit out.

Left apparently a little understated was that it was in fact one in an edition of many!

Proposed Drive-thru Coffee Shack shows Weakness of MU-III Zoning

When we went through the Our Salem process and designated lots of the south end of Commercial Street in various flavors of "mixed use" zoning, and then subsequently went through a minor revision in the debate over overlay zones, and we talked about how much it was going to help us reduce driving and emissions, an important part of our climate action, were more drive-thrus really what we wanted?

Drive-thru coffee shack proposed

The City has an application for an additional car wash bay and wholly new drive-thru coffee shack for the corner of Judson and Commercial, very near the cemetery.

MU-III zoning here - City of Salem

The parcel is zoned MU-III, and in early returns, this new mixed use zoning does not seem to be inducing very much actual mixed use.

Staff Report from Our Salem, April 2022

More importantly, we continue to allow new drive thrus and all the driving trips they induce. No amount of PR on idling will change that! MU-III zoning was specifically formulated to allow drive-thrus. We saw this out on the new project east of Costco, and now here in a more inner neighborhood.

via FB

We should give more serious consideration to banning new drive-thrus altogether. Our Strong Towns group discussed this some last month.

(Since the MU-III zone is really a continuation of older commercial zoning, mostly just freshened up with a new brand name and a few more allowable uses, we should also consider renaming it to give a more honest high-level view of the amount and intent of actual mixed-use zoning. The City likes to brag about how much new mixed use zoning there is, but much of it seems very unlikely to be used in any spirit of mixed uses. There's too much PR on very theoretical and unlikely possibility and not enough discussion of realistic prospects. With more sober assessments we would be in a better position to iterate and refine so we are more likely to hit in reality our high level goals, which remain remote at the moment.)