Vehicle Struck a Pedestrian in Eureka This Evening
The pedestrian was injured and was unable to move from the roadway.
An ambulance responded to the scene and took the pedestrian to the hospital.
Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.
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Hope the person is ok. It’s super scary when people stop for pedestrians on 4/5th streets in the left/right lanes. So many close calls with pedestrians crossing because people think the vehicle is turning. Pedestrians need to be extra careful when crossing traffic.
The north end 4th & 5th and Herrick ave/101 south are designated ”ZOMBIE” crossings.
She was careful, this is my friend and she is always careful. The truck driver didn’t see her. And she’s scraped up and sore but is ok.
How many vehicle vs pedestrian accidents, vehicle vs bicycle or just vehicle accidents are acceptable? I dare say FAR less than we are seeing.
As I drive daily I see drivers using phones to text, talk or whatever paying no attention to the road or anything else around them. I’ve seen speeds of 60 plus in 30 zones, speeds of 80 plus in the safety corridor and extremely aggressive speeders everywhere. I see red lights being deliberately run regularly (like 2 cars able to stop in one lane, yet someone in the other lane just has to keep going) even though they usually have to stop at the very next light. I see EPD officers within a couple of cars of the offenders, yet have never seen a single one try to make a stop. They couldn’t possibly have missed seeing them unless they, too are preoccupied and distracted. I see the lighted crosswalk lights come on, yet a dozen cars from both directions just have to blaze through without stopping. I see drivers refuse to stop when school buses have red lights and stop signs flashing.
I see pedestrians crossing at crosswalks when the crosswalk light says “Don’t Walk.” I see pedestrians run right out into traffic on Broadway and other streets. I see pedestrians walking out in the traffic lanes, sometimes walking their dogs when there is a perfectly good sidewalk. I see pedestrians refuse to stop at the edge of a sidewalk to look for possible traffic on the streets. They just walk right out and expect traffic to come to a screeching halt.
I see bicycles blow through most traffic lights and stop signs. I see them riding the wrong direction out in the traffic lanes. I see them darting in and out between cars. They seem to forget they are not pedestrians and try to use crosswalks. They ride while on the phone or texting.
This is an epidemic in Eureka, Arcata, Mckinleyville and Fortuna. It would be really great if the local cops would take a break from businesses as usual (which seems to only include anything mentioned above until after an accident occurs) and put every officer on the entire force on traffic duty. All PDs claim to be trying to make our cities and streets safer. If they mean what they say, take a few days to make a real difference by ticketing drivers, bicycle riders and pedestrians who violate the traffic laws. Unless PDs take it seriously, nobody else will.
If you want to see a disaster waiting to happen watch Eureka High School students, at the lunch hour or after school lets out, walk out in traffic on I Street. They just dare cars to not stop. Several years ago a 14 year old student texting on his cell phone walked out in front of a pick-up truck and the teenager lost his life. Or what these students think is fun is to walk across the street and then start walking really slow just to make drivers wait. These are tomorrow’s citizens? Deet-ta-dee. School said it’s not their responsibility. After they leave the school property it’s their parent’s responsibility. But as normal both parents are working therefore the student is on his/her own. And of course, they can’t smoke on the bus so they walk out in traffic.
Slow down! Drive safely, for a change…
https://www.vox.com/22675358/us-car-deaths-year-traffic-covid-pandemic
Bohne has a signal and crosswalk. Walk a block and a day longer.
The pedestrian is probably lucky to be alive. I hope they will be ok. Thank you Humboldt Bay Fire, and City Ambulance for your care of the injured person. Hero’s one and all!
I walk my dog 4-5 times a week. Cross only in crosswalks. At least once a week I’m almost hit by a car, someone not paying attention etc. Even police cars in Eureka don’t stop for pedestrians waiting to cross (not on a light). Eureka has some of the most dangerous drivers I’ve ever seen.
I’m sure the EPD has many fine officers and, like most public servants these days find themselves overworked and underpaid.
But their record for consistent traffic enforcement, as well as rolling stop signs and passing through occupied crosswalks, is not good and hasn’t been for years.
I’m not sure that the drivers are so bad as much as Eureka is just not well designed for driving. Intersections on and near Broadway or 4th/5th are frequently uncontrolled, visually crowded with buildings, lights and cross traffic and not enough stop lights to make spaces to cross. It’s a frigging highway right through the most dense part of town.
Sometimes it’s like a video game with pedestrians and drivers coming at each other at the same time from many directions. And there is no common consensus about who has the defacto right away. Traffic rules are one thing but what people actually do is another.
I have had some close calls on Broadway (where there is no light), but also on side streets. I believe unlike a city like San Francisco, where there are a lot of pedestrians and so people are more accustomed to being aware of them, there are fewer people who walk so people in cars just blow through intersections typically with no awareness that there are other people around. It’s really scary. I’d walk exclusively on paths but that’s another issue, I feel the isolation when walking on them necessitates a taser or a gun… not sure I’m ready for that.
Just this morning, coming in to Eureka from the south in dense fog, the idiots were driving by the electronic speed sign south of old Kmart. It was lighting up at 77 mph. Any questions about why Eureka is so dangerous?
Seems like this is a weekly thing in Eureka. The most dangerous city to walk in?