FLORENCE – A 40-year-old Florence man was killed Saturday night when he tried to cross U.S. Highway 101 a mile south of the city and was struck by an SUV, Oregon State Police said Sunday.
Police said Garrick Wall was wearing dark-colored clothes and walking south in the northbound shoulder of the highway when he attempted to cross an unlighted portion of the highway near South Loftus Road. He was struck by a southbound SUV driven by James Harpole, 58, of Cheshire.
The highway was impacted for approximately three hours during the investigation, police said.
An unlighted portion of the highway? Please do share what portion is lit. Where should he have crossed the road? What special clothes should he have been wearing to cross the road?
I see where you are going here but realize that being on the road, in the auto travel path in dark clothes after dark is always dangerous. I had a close call this week and the pedestrian had every advantage- I was paying attention, I don’t think I have night blindness, I was driving a modern car with modern headlights. Do not walk in front of cars.
Driving despite lack of certainty about night blindness or sight acuity is something I worry drivers are doing a lot of, because Oregon’s DMV FAQs seem more concerned that people don’t wear eyeglasses in their ID photo than whether people who need corrective lenses to drive safely have them on. What is the age DMV starts requiring vision checks before driver license renewals, or is it never? All road users deserve careful speeds (especially if you can’t see well, or are blind and walk using a cane). We deserve Hwy 101 sidewalks for getting home at night when no more Lincoln County intercity buses are running, and designated space for all non-car transportation. But in places where there isn’t considerate space or a bus or lighting for people who walk or bike, it’s smart to drive with an expectation that a muddy shoulder or sharp debris may force someone closer to cars than anyone wants to be. Crossing is ridiculously hard to do. Not all modern headlights are all that good, and heights of cars have changed, too, affecting what drivers can see in front of them, including deer with dark fur. There are often plenty of illegal things being done when a crash happens that Oregon State Police could focus on mentioning in reports, like driving too fast for dark conditions; so why are OSP mentioning lawful things like a clothing color worn by a victim?
Every time I read a story like this I ask myself, why did someone walk in front of a car before it has stopped? I learned as a child at Yachats Elementary that you wait until a car has stopped before you walk in front of it. One cannot assume that a driver sees you. Your life is at stake.
RIF