Family of three hospitalized after driver hits them in crosswalk
A driver turning right from Reed Market onto 3rd Street hit a mother and her two kids (ages 1 and 5) this morning while they were crossing with the right of way. All three were taken to the hospital. The driver was cited for failing to yield to pedestrians.
This is truly horrific to imagine this situation for this young family and this sadly is not the first time i've seen a "driver turning right hits pedestrian with right of way" story. Right turns (including right-on-red) are consistently one of the more dangerous maneuvers for people in crosswalks, since drivers are often watching for a gap in traffic instead of scanning the crosswalk. (i had friends hit this way growing up)
At a minimum we all need to keep an eye out and do better, people shouldn't have to take their lives in their own hands to cross the street, also should Bend be looking at restricting right-on-red at high-pedestrian intersections like this one, or other ODOT engineering fixes (leading pedestrian intervals, no-turn-on-red signage, tighter turn radii), rather than just relying on citations after the fact?
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/local/bend-pedestrians-hit-vehicle-reed-market-third/article_383ac0cb-fad5-41b0-8466-7809396fd835.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=nextdoor.com&utm_campaign=nextdoor_news