PORTLAND, Ore. — Four people have died in high crash corridors in East Portland all in one week, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) confirmed with KGW.
The first happened on Oct. 21 at around 2:37 a.m., PPB said a bicyclist was hit and killed by a car near Menlo Park Elementary School off Southeast 128th and Glisan.
"Are you surprised by that?” KGW asked a resident in the area.
“No, no, not at all," they replied.
The resident who did not want her name to be shared, has lived off Glisan for over 35 years — and says drivers never go the speed limit.
"Always above,” said the neighbor. “They just changed it to 30 mph, but right now, do you hear anyone going 30 mph [right now]? No."
The second crash happened that same day but at 9 a.m., off Northeast 105th Avenue and Marx Street. That's where a driver killed a man on his bicycle.
"This person was driving somewhere and didn't plan on being dead. It's horrible," said Veronica Rudka, whose husband owns a shop nearby called Petram Countertops.
She actually says their building was hit by a car a while back. A crash that would have killed her if she had been working at the time inside her office.
“It is not safe,” said Rudka. “I mean, cars are driving fast."
On Oct. 24, at 1:26 a.m., PPB says a woman was run over by a car on South Stark Street and 99th Avenue. A preliminary investigation suggests she was clinging to the outside of a moving car and fell off; she later died at the hospital. She was later identified by police as 42-year-old Christy T. Lafferty.
The fourth crash, the 56th traffic-related fatality in Portland this year, happened on Oct. 28, at 6:40 a.m. near Northeast Halsey and 118th Avenue. PPB said two cars were involved in a collision; one was pronounced dead at the scene, with a second person transported to the hospital for treatment.
Police identified the person who died as 51-year-old Zachary D. Fine.
The Traffic Investigations Unit said a 2009 Acura TSX was going east on Northeast Halsey Street and hit the passenger side of Fine's 2007 Dodge Caliver, which was making a left turn onto Northeast 118th Avenue. "Excessive speed" is believed to be a factor in the crash, police said, and the Acura's driver — 21-year-old Manuel D. Espana Torres — has been booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving.
Businesses in the area say more needs to be done.
"Speed trap cameras, for sure,” said Zach Canilao, a worker at Mitus, which is located next to where the crash happened. “Because if you notice in any area that there's a speed trap camera, everybody slows down."
KGW reached out to PBOT to comment on their Vision Zero campaign, and they shared the following statement:
“We are in constant communication with police about fatal and serious injury crashes. While we need more information from the crash investigations to know the contributing factors for these crashes, we know that East Portland residents have more exposure to high crash corridors such as Glisan, Stark and Halsey."
"While we have made some safety improvements on those streets to make them safer and we have more improvements coming soon on high crash corridors in East Portland, we need everyone to take steps today to make our streets safer. Avoid driving under the influence, look out for people biking and walking, and understand that we need more enforcement — with PBOT's camera program and Portland Police — to reduce fatal crashes. And, with the days growing shorter, it's going to be crucial for people driving to look out for pedestrians and people biking.”