Danger Zones: Motorists, pedestrians beware

“Danger Zones” puts a focus on potentially dangerous locations where motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians converge. Safety solutions will vary, but the main purpose of “Danger Zones” is awareness.

This week: Highway 35, at Van Horn Drive, Pine Grove.

Main danger: Damaged corner guard rails.

Contributing factors

The southwest rail, however, is a mangled mass of metal and wood, some of it jagged and poking toward the shoulder, about calf-level for a cyclist or pedestrian if they had to suddenly move to the right to avoid a car.

Add to that the absence of intended guardrail functions: to keep vehicles on the roadway and to give visual guidance to drivers.

It also just plain looks bad.

An employee of one of the service stations said the southwest railing had been bent in an earlier accident. Coming to work one day in May, he noticed the increased damage. He said that the fresh tire marks suggested that the vehicle had crushed the railing and was driven away.

“Danger Zones” has thus far addressed locations where crossings, signs and local conditions factor into the hazards. In this case, human actions entirely constitute the problem.

Severe damage to Oregon Department of Transportation guardrails has gone unfixed for nearly three months. ODOT officials were notified of this problem three weeks ago, but as of Thursday afternoon, the guardrails remain in their hazardous state.

First fix

Position the orange cones that are scattered at the scene, then dispatch a crew immediately to repair the guardrails.

Right now, what was designed to protect is itself a hazard.

Do you have a Danger Zone you want profiled? Email us at hrnews@hoodrivernews.com, with a brief explanation.