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PEDESTRIAN PERIL.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

What pedestrian feels entirely at ease walking down the street after the shattering series of pedestrian deaths in the Eugene-Springfield area over the past six months?

Lucy Lahr, 45, was crossing the street by Sacred Heart Medical Center when a truck took her life. Vaclav Hajek, 10, had just watered a plot in a community garden when he was run down. Brian Reams, 22, was out with a friend in the university district. Gordon Bennett, 71, had stepped out onto Gateway Street.

Now they're gone.

These are just four of the 50 pedestrians killed by vehicles in the Eugene-Springfield area from 1996 through 2007, state and local records show.

An additional 499 pedestrians were injured by vehicles in that period, and many seriously: Jaclyn Merlo, 14, needed the left side of her face reconstructed. Susan Wehner, 44, may never be able to get down on her knees again, which is a tough realization for a builder who does flooring.

"When I watch TV and see people get hit by cars and they get up and walk away, I am like `That is so unrealistic,'?" said Deanna Stevens, who was struck next to Sacred Heart in 2002.

The recent spate of crashes and subsequent driver trials has stirred unrest even among people not involved in the wrecks.

Some say the justice system must be sharpened. The four drivers who took the lives of Lahr, Hajek, Reams and Bennett were jailed for less than five years total despite hundreds of years of life lost.

Other activists say the solution is to alter key roads and intersections to slow traffic and cut the likelihood of more deaths. Still others say drivers must be educated to cease the cell-phone chatter, text messaging, eating, drinking and other distractions if the metro area is to be made safer for pedestrians.

Eugene resident Tom Schneide-r, a pedestrian advocate and RV salesman, is at the forefront of the debate. "It would be really nice," he said, "to walk down to the store and get a newspaper without taking your life into your hands."

But in a car-based society, pedestrians aren't entirely safe.

The sentencings in recent months of the drivers who hit Lahr, Hajek, Reams and Bennett sent a wave of disbelief through the families of the victims and some in the community at large.

Retired teacher Jeff Willensky was alarmed that Thomas Berryhill got just 14 months for running over Lahr last October. (Other charges associated with the crash brought Berryhill's total prison sentence to 31/2 years.)

"This guy took someone's life. He didn't stop. He was inconsiderate. He was pretty selfish about his actions," Willensky said. "It just doesn't seem the system is working in favor of victims - pedestrians who didn't do anything wrong or...

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