Another focus should be greater education about the rights of pedestrians, including what constitutes a legal crosswalk that cars are required to stop at. I've seen so many cars just blow through these legal crosswalks, both marked and unmarked, while people try in vain to wade into traffic.

And, as an aside: please don't blow by a bus stopped at a crosswalk for any reason - especially if they're dropping people off. And doubly so if we're on only a two-lane street (driving into an oncoming lane to pass a stopped bus).

@bd: Do we really need to educate motorists about "unmarked crosswalks"? Couldn't we just mark the crosswalks?

shrinking pie, my understanding is that CRC project lead is raking in $250k/yr including bennies. Don't undersell it!

Well, just about every curb cut to curb cut is a legal crosswalk, so some might argue it's not feasible.

But I appreciate the idea. Well said.

As a very close friend of Lindsays, I can say with some certainty that she would not have wanted this.

Off-topic, but someone (and as a member of the media who focuses on bicycles, Sarah would be perfect) should focus on campaigns for safe biking, including 1.) helmet wearing; 2.) nighttime visibility; 3.) using the bike boulevards; 4.) keeping out of blind spots (San Francisco has a MUNI bus campaign telling cyclists to keep out of the blind spot).

I'm a hated cager, but I really do not want to hit a bicyclist. Really. But the appalling safety violations of Portland's bicyclists may make it inevitable.

@the shrinking pie:

The Aerial Tram is really feeling sad about being left out of your list. It has feelings too.

When did Blogtown become infected by the reactionary blowhards from the WW comments?

Sod it, if you can't beat them, join them. Everything's the fault of cyclists who never (not one of them) have a light or slow at stop signs, bioswales only benefit pedestrians and cyclists and people not drivers so they must be a communist plot, and the city should stop wasting money on pointless and unneeded projects that do nothing to benefit my life (except for filling potholes in the street, which is of course the most important thing a council can do).

I feel sorry about the girls that died and their families, but perhaps if the girls had been paying attention to traffic and their surroundings, this would not have happened. Anyone who walks out into a crosswalk and expects traffic to stop for them is living in a dream world. Most people will stop, but there is always the few that won't. Here in Vancouver we have some crosswalks with flashing lights in the roadway and overhead. These are actuated by th person who wants to cross, and they are pretty hard to miss, even in the rain. There is no excuse for a burned out street light at a crosswalk not being replaced in a timely manner, though.

Just curious, why was it necessary to include the information that she was a "Reed College graduate"? Not trying to be a smart ass here, just don't get what that fact has to do with the rest of the information in the post.

I hadn't heard about this one before - does the lack of charges against the driver suggest that the girls were at fault?? Not to "blame the victim", but if this is an issue of people walking blindly into traffic...

@Tommy: unless you're advocating for striping all of Oregon's hundreds of thousands of intersections (every one of which constitutes an "unmarked crosswalk"), then yes, it seems apparent that motorist education is necessary.

Yes, we can all be better aware of traffic and our surroundings, but blaming the deceased strikes me as callous and detached.

The situation was this. They were at a crosswalk. It was dark. They had two lanes of traffic to cross. A bus stopped in the closer lane to let them pass. They started crossing the street. Another car thought the bus was just stopped to let people off, and passed the bus in the second lane, striking Lindsay and Jess. The presence of the bus prevented either party from seeing the other.

Good thing the "the parent company of Save-A-Lot Food Stores" is going to be punished!! Damn them to hell!!1!

@LawyerPepper

I ride a bike, and I 1) always wear a helmet, 2) mount flashing lights front and back when riding at night, 3) use bike boulevards and 4) am very aware of my surroundings, including blind spots.

To generalize "the appalling safety violations of Portland's bicyclists" is absurd and ignores the dozen or so people I see every day talking on cell phones while driving, the many cars I see rolling through stop signs and the constant running of red left-turn lights at major intersections.

You're right that it's off-topic, but I'm just getting so sick of this petty, arrogant attitude from some drivers toward cyclists. Everyone on the road should use appropriate caution, obey traffic laws (hang up your damn cell phone) and pay attention. To single out cyclists as dangerous scofflaws is a serious case of pot and kettle.

@LawyerPepper

Would you keep your off-topic little pet peeves to yourself? You're being really tasteless.

I love how drivers always blame the victim. No wonder we can't get real laws about striking a pedestrian. If this woman or any other traffic victim got scraped by somebody's bumper they can ponder better safety options, but it doesn't do much good when you're forever dead.

And as for the person who said the victim wouldn't have wanted this, possibly that's true. But the community needs such lawsuits in order to force the hand of the city and make drivers more aware.

Can anyone explain why Feliciano's employers would be dragged into this (aside from the lawyer hoping a judge will go along with his tangential reasoning and provide his client a more affluent money fountain than just the single dude)?

Thanks MERC for covering this. Everyone is a pedestrian sometimes. It's unbelievable the driver wasn't cited, PPB policy should be brought into the suit. We have plenty of intersections near businesses that need lights or stop signs. Having been hit by a car at an intersection with the driver not cited, I think we have a problem.

I'm not in favor of frivolous lawsuits, but the Chasse family suit that changed City policy is a great example of using the courts for good.

@ "Nex" I second that question. Was Feliciano driving a company vehicle that day? But to any driver that bypasses a stopped bus thats in front of a crosswalk, and you're going fullspeed, you deserve to be sued to the max if you hit a ped in the process. And your employer SHOULD be included in the suit if you're driving a company vehicle. You are representing them, so you have to be much more cautious on the road.

From a former commercial driver.