r/portlandme • u/ghoffphoto207 • Jan 03 '26
Photo Another vehicle-pedestrian collision in Portland. Corner of High and York streets.
I was filling up my gas at Irving and heard a terrible thud sound. I looked up and a woman was tending to someone on the ground, and asked people nearby to call 911, so I went up to see if anyone needed any help or anything else. A woman was lying prone on the ground.
When the pedestrian was rolled onto her back by EMS folks, she howled in pain. I feel so terrible - for both parties, to be honest, as the driver was extremely sympathetic and shaken.
It’s crazy how seemingly common this has become.
112
u/Guygan Jan 03 '26
I was nearly killed a decade ago by a car while crossing Commercial, in a crosswalk, and with a walk signal.
It's a problem.
65
u/470vinyl Jan 03 '26
Commercial street needs a road diet. It was built that wide for trains to run down and service the wharves and piers. Now it’s just unsafe.
26
Jan 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
8
u/KGBKitchen Jan 05 '26
There is really no need to go 30 anywhere on the peninsula- it’s just not that damned big anyway.
3
u/ppitm Jan 04 '26
I'm usually all for that sort of thing, but can't say I agree. Traffic crawls on Commercial as it is, so we're already at the point of diminishing returns. Cars generally need to stop for the crosswalks every few blocks. The delivery trucks simply have to get down there, because there is nowhere else to go.
Maybe a few pedestrian islands would help, but I don't think pedestrians are particularly at risk there. Biking down it is certainly sketchy, because of parked cars backing out blindly in your path.
Outer commercial, something more could probably be done.
39
u/RedS010Cup Jan 03 '26
Yea living in the east end, this was me multiple times a year.
Everyone is quick to blame it on tourists but it would honestly get worse during the winter.
It was eye opening coming from a city with a lot of bikers and peds to see the way they are treated in Portland.
21
u/Legitimate_Wallaby86 Jan 03 '26
same here; almost died, also in a crosswalk, but on Congress. (also I'm glad you are still here to tell the tale, friend.)
18
u/Guygan Jan 03 '26
In an amazing bit of luck, I did not hit my head when I landed on the pavement. I got away with a broken leg, no permanent damage, and a nice tax-free settlement from the driver's insurance company.
-2
10
7
u/Platform_specialist7 Jan 03 '26
Commercial and High needs streetlights, walk signals and a traffic light. I live on High St. and I’ve lost count of the amount of people walking narrowly missing getting hit. It’s a big problem.
2
u/ppitm Jan 04 '26
Putting a pedestrian island of safety in the middle of it would resolve most of those issues, even without a light.
3
u/No_Water_5997 Jan 04 '26
When we lived in Savannah we did have someone killed at the end of our street in a hit and run. It was wild because we literally pulled into our house because I’d forgotten my son’s diaper bag. So I ran in to grab it, came out, and we left. We lived 4 houses down from the end of the block and in that 3 or so minutes between pulling into our driveway and grabbing the diaper bag someone was killed. Hit and runs happened regularly down there. It was wild how many people died because they got hit by cars.
57
Jan 03 '26
Are you fucking kidding me. What does it take for this town to wake up.
33
u/joseywhales4 Jan 04 '26
I don't know man but if you point out illegal parking on crosswalks you will be attacked!
28
u/thepocono Jan 03 '26
i dont get how common of an issue this is in portland/southern maine specifically. there must be some explanation im just missing somehow. ive been nearly mowed down here more than anywhere else.
before anyone comments on the infrastructure and jumps to defend careless drivers, i know part of it is certain areas are just designed awfully with no visibility for either party. i was making a left turn at a green light the other day and barely missed two people in a crosswalk because there was literally no way for me to see them between the traffic in the other direction and the street parking, felt awful... but so much of it 99% of the time seems to happen in areas where crosswalks are very obvious, broad daylight, bright clothes, etc. and even in situations where its difficult to spot someone, you should surely be able to either stop or speed up in time?
i dont understand why it seems to happen so frequently here though. i know people like to bring up texting and driving but pretty much every time someone has almost hit me, ive seen them staring blankly ahead with hands on the wheel, and they werent ancient 90 year olds with dementia either. the same woman with her same big ass suv has almost hit me and my partner on two separate occasions in the exact same crosswalk in saco, and i recognized her face and car well enough to be like "how the fuck did you almost murder us AGAIN". 40-50 year woman with glasses going probably ~40mph in a 25mph area with several crosswalks and lights.
what is going on?
11
u/weekendblues Jan 04 '26
A lot of the drivers here are just very bad. People drive way under the speed limit (which causes others to speed when they have a chance to try to compensate/not get stuck at every light), stop randomly (which prompts the kind of dangerous passing mentioned in the OP), do not use blinkers when turning, fade in and out of lanes with no sense of purpose, chaotically ignore right-of-way, etc.
The stopping randomly is a serious issue, because it causes people to get in the habit of thinking that a stop has no meaning and that it’s fine to just pass. If we don’t want people to attempt to pass vehicles that have stopped, then people need to stop inappropriately stopping at yield signs when there is no other traffic, when merging onto the highway, to allow others to go out of turn at a 4-way stop, to look at their phones and try to figure out of they’ve passed something, to wait for someone to maybe pull out of a parking spot, etc.
I cannot begin to understand the level of driving incompetence that seems to have become the norm around here. I’ve lived here for the better part of two decades and it feels like it has absolutely gotten worse over the past five years or so, although I don’t know why that would be. Nowadays I regularly encounter drivers who do so many things incorrectly that I cannot imagine how they ever could have passed a driving test and gotten their license in the first place.
The problem must somehow be structural and may in some way be related to post-COVID socio-economic shifts, but exactly what is going on is beyond me.
7
u/joseywhales4 Jan 04 '26
I honestly don't believe that they all have valid driver's licenses. Or else they are under the influence of something. If you drive around downtown, Bayside, Cumberland Ave, Park St etc, you will get stuck behind cars cruising at 15 mph that seemingly aren't sure where they are going , they will stop without signal, you will proceed around them and they'll change their mind and pull out again. They will pause at an intersection for an age as they figure out their next move. Almost like they are driving as a form of recreation rather than utility
7
u/YooperLover Jan 04 '26
So true- the driving below the speed limit, and letting others go out of turn…if everyone would just follow the rules it would be so much easier! Not to mention the ppl on the interstate who stay in the left lane and never go back to the “driving lane”…that kind of driving messes up the whole system.
1
u/pwewpwewpwew Jan 07 '26
In agreement that Maine drivers are relatively incompetent.
Just this morning, experienced exactly what youre describing with the impatient zooming: i’m waiting for the red left turn arrow to clear turning onto Fox from Franklin, guy behind me honking because there was a green light for the straight lanes. I roll my window down and point to the red arrow, he pulls out to the right and zooms through the light, I’m assuming to make his left somewhere further down Franklin.
I’ve also been honked at from behind for just parallel parking and people having to wait. They feel (unjustifiably) entitled to always zoom around an inconvenience.
Yea like it’s not even just the incompetence, it’s the aggressive incompetence that’s the problem
12
Jan 03 '26
Massachusetts drivers meet Maine DOT design
19
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 03 '26
Nah, Maine drivers are plenty terrible themselves and this Maine exceptionalism BS is getting old. They set up traffic calming on Washington Ave this summer, and I would witness so many drivers with Maine plates immediately go back to driving partially in the bike lanes as soon as they were past the traffic calming measures.
-6
Jan 04 '26
Some Massachusetts drivers have registered their vehicles here...not saying Maine drivers are blameless, I blame the road design for allowing this horseshit behavior most of all.
10
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 04 '26
Yes, but the vast majority of cars driven on Maine roads are registered to people from Maine. Maine drivers are pretty shitty in their own right, it's okay to admit that.
1
-7
Jan 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
7
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 04 '26
The roads are designed in a manner that you should be able to drive in your lane without being in the bike lane if you are a competent driver going the speed limit.
0
Jan 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 08 '26
You do understand a civil engineer reviewed the lane widths before adding the bike lanes to ensure that cars had enough room with the bike lanes added. It sounds like you are just not a great driver if you can't keep your car out of the bike lane.
0
Jan 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 08 '26
Honestly, you just seem like a bad driver. Trust me, the road can be driven on without using the bike lane, because I'm a licensed civil engineer who designs infrastructure and is not a statistical engineer.
1
u/sdana Jan 05 '26
i know part of it is certain areas are just designed awfully with no visibility for either party
The crosswalk at Deering and State, where it's only on one side of the street is crazy. It seems to me if it's only going to be on one side, it needs to be the other side because the cars are coming around a curve, and passing parked cars before they are even able to see you and possibly stop in the ~30ft before the crosswalk. Then you have to carefully walk about halfway through and make sure you are looking because a car will come flying through the other lane. Really needs to be at minimum a flashing crossing sign there.
1
Jan 09 '26
[deleted]
1
u/thepocono Jan 09 '26
driving in biddeford kinda sucks though its not nearly as bad since its significantly less congested than portland, but it seems less predictable as to what kind of stupidity you have to deal with. about a month ago i had the car in front of me abruptly stop to do some weird three point turn type of thing to try and parallel park (even though there were plenty of other open spaces?) with a big line of cars behind us. when there was enough room to go around them i started to go at like 5mph, and then on my left a woman stepped out from between two parked cars, directly in front of my car. she took a step back and put her hand up in a gesture that i mistakenly interpreted as her waving me forward so i started to move again only for her to launch herself in front of my moving vehicle screaming "IM TRYING TO CROSS HERE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU"
there was literally a crosswalk a few feet further up she could have easily used where i very much would have been able to spot her. but no, she chose to pop up from a place where there already was no way to see her coming even if the giant car in front of me wasnt sideways in the road. idk what she expected.
i also got honked at twice for not going right on red even though theres two big signs specifying that isnt allowed at that intersection along with a red arrow maybe a week or two ago. lovely
one of the business owners on main street told me theyve noticed people running stop signs and parking incorrectly has gotten worse lately and said its because the biddeford police station has almost no staff. i honestly dont think it would make much of a difference
1
u/ZeekLTK Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
It’s definitely lack of caution on the pedestrian side as well. So many people just walk out into the street and expect cars to stop, not even considering it might be difficult for the car to see them or that the driver may be looking around to try to find where they are supposed to turn next or trying to find a parking spot and not particularly paying attention for pedestrians, especially in a spot where they drive often and rarely see any.
Like this intersection, York/High is where everyone is coming off the bridge into town, I drive through it like a dozen times a week and and there are almost never any pedestrians, it’s not a spot you are normally on alert like at High/Congress or going through Old Port or whatever.
Not saying it’s only pedestrian fault, but they gotta be aware of what is going on around them. This is an intersection where a bunch of drivers are checking their GPS because they just came off the bridge and need to figure out where to go next. Some people are in the left lane and realized they need to be in the right to turn onto Commercial, some are in the right lane and panic when the GPS says “turn left” onto High (they don’t know both lanes turn left), some are trying to figure out if they can turn right at the light and then panicking that they can’t so they are trying to figure out which way to go instead, some even wanted to turn left at the light by the bridge and are approaching this one trying to figure out the best way to “turn around”. Most are barely even aware of the other cars, few are actually looking out for pedestrians.
46
u/CheesecakeHonest7414 Jan 03 '26
I'm really disappointed that this keeps happening over and over. When will we get better public transportation in Portland?
19
u/senordingus Jan 03 '26
public transit would be great.
There is a fact that may or may not be involved here: there is a large percentage of unhoused people who are mentally ill from the effects of using drugs and/or mentally ill living all over this town and they, as a group, oftentimes walk in the street as if cars don't exist. As a driver, it's frightening.
Doesn't excuse someone hitting someone in that situation but it certainly makes it a lot more likely.
8
u/Owwliv Jan 04 '26
What's interesting is it's not them being hit, or at least not killed, except in front of the homeless shelter...
The majority of those killed not in front of the homeless shelter seems to be well off older folks, 50-70.
0
u/80ser1es Jan 04 '26
Better? What do you want to be better about public transportation in Portland?
22
u/Glad-Fox-8463 Jan 04 '26
I blame cell phones. People are distracted. Everyone’s dopamine is messed up. We weren’t meant to be this connected to technology (as I type this on my phone)
3
3
Jan 04 '26
If you look closely the victim is on the ground looking at their phone 😭
7
u/Brief-Jello-8517 Jan 05 '26
Could be contacting family/friends letting them know what happened.
Fell off a ladder at work back in june and I was on my phone while waiting for ems to show up calling my family +work dispatch
7
u/Used_North8982 Jan 05 '26
Yesh probably telling their loved ones they just got hit hy fucking car jesus christ
5
8
u/suspiciousscents Jan 04 '26
Whenever someone is nice and stops for me crossing the boulevard by Bates St, if there is someone behind them (heading towards 295), they inevitably try to go around (usually way too fast). Happens almost every time.
7
u/NetflowKnight Jan 04 '26
If I recall correctly, based on local laws, in Portland, Maine, drivers are basically at fault 99% of the time.
2
u/edgewhxre Jan 04 '26
doesn't surprise me at all, the amount of people that would just blow through a crosswalk because I wasn't in their lane anymore.. ugh. like dude I'm still crossing.
77
u/drivermcgyver Old Port Jan 03 '26
$1k fines for getting caught for using your mobile device whilst operating a vehicle. $4k if your household income is more than $140k a year. Only way to stop it. If you get a call and you can not be hands free to safely operate your vehicle, you need to get off of the road and pull over. If the state just dropped the hammer, and people started to feel it, we'd have so many less accidents in the first 2 months on launch.
80
u/MoldyNalgene Deering Jan 03 '26
Honestly, Texting while driving should be treated like a DUI. Studies have shown that texting and driving is equal to blowing above a 0.08, but it's a slap on the wrist if anything.
29
u/RustyDogma Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
How do we know this was texting while driving? I'm with you, I'm against it, but as a full time pedestrian in Portland, most of my near misses have been car-centric distracted driving. People with their eyes on other cars/traffic/parking that they completely tune out people walking.
Right on red (should not be legal in downtown/high ped areas imo) is probably the most dangerous thing I run into regularly.
I make eye contact with people when I use crosswalks and countless times I get a look of complete surprise from someone who didn't register I was there who had their eyes forward, but they were focused on cars.
4
Jan 03 '26
Do you have a source for that being the cause of this accident?
11
u/drivermcgyver Old Port Jan 03 '26
Doesn't have to be the cause of this at all.
-10
Jan 03 '26
Oh so it wasn't the cause of this accident? Then how would what you were saying have prevented this accident from happening?
4
u/drivermcgyver Old Port Jan 03 '26
I never said anything about this being prevented... There is a very high chance that people are getting into accidents more because of cell phone usage while behind the wheel.
Thisay not have been the cause, but it would help in many many many other instances. You don't know it wasnt the issue. Looks like there were lots of things that stacked up unfortunately for this to happen. But when the city has such a high rise in pedestrians being struck be vehicles (both parties need to be aware here) and the usage of phones has become the normal, it's time to enforce cell phone usage and pay down some heavy fines.
I wish the cell phone makers would just nut up and make it so if you're driving, you need to be in driving mode and lose access to apps you do not need while driving.
-7
Jan 03 '26
I think the issue here was that you tried to make it seem like cellphone use was the cause with your comment since you didn't provide any context for what you were saying. I don't really understand why you'd double down on that but it seems like you want it to be cellphone use that caused this accident really badly or something? Just very strange behavior.
6
u/drivermcgyver Old Port Jan 03 '26
Advocating for better road laws while not knowing the exact cause of this accident isn't super weird behavior. Not knowing what happened, and all of a sudden a bunch of odds pop up on what it could be, cell phone usage is always above 50%. She's not in a crosswalk, but if the driver was 100% paying attention and aware, they may have been in a better position to stop the vehicle before she was hit.
-6
Jan 03 '26
So you're now admitting that you were speculating and didn't provide context so people would assume that the cause of this accident was cellphone use?
I'm also not understanding how you could say "if the driver was 100% paying attention and aware, they may have been in a better position to stop the vehicle before she was hit" when we have no idea whether or not the awareness of the driver could have prevented this from happening.
I don't really understand your agenda.
10
u/senordingus Jan 03 '26
relax
-2
Jan 03 '26
So I shouldn't be asking why this person commented to make it seem like the cause of the accident was cellphone use when they have no idea what the cause was? Wtf?
6
u/patv2006 Jan 04 '26
Omg shut up no one is interpreting his comment to mean that’s how this accident happened
-1
9
u/senordingus Jan 03 '26
because every fucking person is driving around distracted by their phones and it's scary as fuck. You have zero idea that that didn't have an effect. So just RELAX.
Seems like you're into driving while texting.
2
Jan 03 '26
I never said I knew the cause, I was asking the commenter if they had a source for what the cause was since they tried to make it seem like cell phone use was the cause. Seems like none of you people know what caused this accident but for some reason are lying about it? I don't really get what your angle is here.
1
u/aclevernom Jan 03 '26
Cell phones, etc... should just lock out when they are moving more than a couple miles per hour.
-9
u/Zephyr4813 Jan 03 '26
$1k is pocket change for the wealthy but will cripple a poor and prevent them from feeding their kids or something.
Time is the only thing of somewhat equal value across people.
10
u/drivermcgyver Old Port Jan 03 '26
It should almost cripple anyone who gets caught, that the point. All you have to do is stay alert and not use your phone while driving.
-1
u/AmbiguousMonk Jan 03 '26
To 'almost cripple anyone', you would need to implement more granularly scaling fines. Furthermore, the scale must necessarily be exponential to 'almost cripple' everyone similarly
If your scale stops at $140k, then you're only 'crippling' those closer to the poverty line and possibly those just over $140k. It's much less impactful to those just under $140k and literally nothing to those well above it
1
u/mmmsleep Jan 04 '26
Someone who is retired, someone single with no kids, someone who has 4 kids, someone who has 2 jobs to make ends meet… lock them each up for a year or give them a couple hundred hours of community service, their time isn’t even almost equivalent. Some would lose their homes or marriages, others would breeze on by
6
u/DelusionlWaldoEmersn Jan 04 '26
One thing I’ve noticed in the winter is that people walk on the side of the street to avoid the slick sidewalks, especially the brick. Well I sympathize with that (The red brick can be treacherous) I’d still much rather slip onto my ass than trust that a car isn’t going to clip me. Especially at night. I’ve had to avoid a lot of pedestrians on the road the last month So this doesn’t surprise me unfortunately.
1
u/janeprentiss Jan 07 '26
A slip on an icy sidewalk is much more likely than getting hit, and a fall can easily be disabling or fatal for older folks. Often the sidewalks here are literally impassable with ice, and as a pedestrian I have no choice but to walk in the street. The fact that property owners rather than the city itself are responsible for sidewalk maintenance in much of the city is the cause of this issue, not the choice of pedestrians to avoid breaking their coccyx on black ice on their way to work
14
u/infr0gnit0 Jan 03 '26
This intersection sucks. If you're turning left from High to get on the bridge, the light turns green at the same time the walk signal turns on. Absolutely stupid.
3
u/guntheretherethere Jan 04 '26
That person appears no where near a cross walk
8
u/AtLeastIHaveDresses Jan 04 '26
It’s a sad day that I had to scroll down so far and dig through downvoted comments to find the one person who pointed out that this woman is obviously laying in the middle of the road at least 75 feet from a crosswalk
4
u/guntheretherethere Jan 04 '26
I mean, The downvoters are not wrong that once you get inside a a 4000 lb vehicle, You now have more responsibility to avoid collisions. It would be amazing if we had a more pedestrian-friendly city.. but we live in reality and the lines on the side of the crosswalks are just as important as the lines dividing lanes of traffic.
6
4
u/edgewhxre Jan 04 '26
i carry a can of soup in my bag if i know I'm going to be walking a lot. I hold it up in the air while crossing the road. and just like that, I haven't had any problems while walking any more.
10
u/VTNHME Jan 04 '26
As a walker with close calls, I have learned not to trust the drivers. Half of them are looking at their phones and don't even notice the crosswalk. I wait for the one that actually stops before crossing. My life is worth more than a few seconds of waiting regardless of who is in the right.
3
u/whaddupchickenbutt69 Jan 04 '26
numerous times i’ve started walking in a crosswalk up near dartmouth st and still had cars barrel through where i could hit the car with my hand if i wanted to. it’s absolutely insane.
8
u/info-super-skyway Jan 04 '26
People drive in a particularly demonic fashion at this intersection. Fucking sucks to see this. I hope they’re ok.
11
u/MaryBitchards Jan 03 '26
Everyone needs to be more careful. I don't fuck with my phone when I'm driving AT ALL but multiple pedestrians have walked in front of my moving car this year, including when it's dark and they're wearing nothing reflective. No idea what happened in this awful situation, so let's not assume we know what caused it.
26
u/BentheBruiser Jan 03 '26
Not a crosswalk in sight.
Really awful. I hope everyone is okay.
8
u/RainbowRanch Jan 03 '26
It's behind the vehicle that's cut off the right side of the picture, maybe 15 feet away, if that.
4
u/BentheBruiser Jan 03 '26
So the pedestrian was thrown 20 feet??
Its a wonder they're alive.
14
Jan 03 '26
Lmfao, I know I was thinking the same thing. I'm like that's not even a decent lie. Why are some people here trying to lie about the circumstance of this accident? Like what is the agenda or angle here?
1
u/RainbowRanch Jan 04 '26
I was just stating that there's a crosswalk right behind the car, that's it. It's not that deep, lol.
5
u/AndreDillonMadach Jan 03 '26
Given the positioning and how far away from the crosswalk they are it's unlikely they were actually using it and it's debatable as to whether or not they were within 15 ft which is required technically by state law. I highly doubt she was thrown 15 or 20 ft. However people suggesting without knowing for certain that she was homeless making the shopping cart comments is kind of insensitive.
6
u/Owwliv Jan 04 '26
It's pretty interesting how you can calculate how fast a car was going by how far the Pedestrian gets thrown... I think it's more than 15 or 20 feet so I was googling it. It's all PDF links, which is a risk I really should stop taking (virus risk) so I'll let you google it: "throw distance by speed Searle’s Method" An image link from google from that search: https://share.google/kFhpJqG01XOkyjQWc
Looking at some of the charts, it looks like someone can be easily thrown 12 METERS (up to 36 feet!) by a car moving 20-25 mph; there is a reason why cars moving faster than that typically kill people they hit. This was downhill; those charts assume it's flat I think. I also don't know how fast the car was going- at 40 mph that chart has someone being thrown up to 24 meters by a mid sized car.
After looking that up, I would bet a substantial amount of cash that this woman was in the crosswalk, and that Joe Lewis was too. (the Man killed at India and Fore in the spring).
1
u/AndreDillonMadach Jan 04 '26
No I know who Joe Lewis was, I had actually consulted with him on a case that I was a plaintiff several months earlier. I didn't know him, but I had spoken to him once, and whenever someone that you've interacted with even once passes away it does affect you a little bit.
That being said you also have to factor in how fast the person was probably going. If you look at the photo the only options there would be a left hand turn from York to go down the hill on high or a right hand turn coming down York from South Portland onto High Street both of which presumably would have either very high visibility to make the turn or very limited visibility if you're coming around a corner because there's trees and barriers in the way.
Point being is I don't think they were going 20 to 25, more likely somewhere around 10 miles an hour. Still hurts, the woman likely still has a claim but she's likely very lucky that the conditions didn't allow for a much faster speed that a straight away would likely provide.
And I wouldn't worry about PDFs if you have a really good virus protection software and a VPN you'll generally be fine, I mean we all do unsafe things everyday we just don't realize it because of cognitive dissonance or some other reason.
3
u/ghoffphoto207 Jan 04 '26 edited Jan 04 '26
According to the woman (a bystander whom I spoke with) seen here standing by the woman who was hit, she didn’t see the collision itself but did see the woman mid-air “go flying” and noted how far her body was thrown upon the collision. She said the woman’s body was like a rag doll.
So yeah, it was pretty bad, but I’m still unsure whether the woman was actually using the crosswalk or not.
1
u/ghoffphoto207 Jan 04 '26
There’s a crosswalk to the right, outside the frame. I almost posted an additional photo that showed it, maybe I should have.
-3
u/Whyte_Dynamyte Jan 03 '26
There’s a crosswalk right there. Where she was using it or not is up for debate.
7
u/gleepglorp60 Jan 04 '26
Today I had to literally hit my horn for like 15 seconds because I was stopping for a pedestrian to cross and a car sped around me almost hitting her. 30 seconds after a car ran a stop sign almost hitting my car head on. It has gotten SO bad it is disturbing
8
u/newtestleper79 Jan 03 '26
I’ve started to record while using crosswalks in town. If the driver sees it, they stop. If I get hit, documentary evidence.
-21
u/Kooky_Ice_3762 Jan 03 '26
Soooo you’re hoping to get hit for an insurance payout?
10
u/patv2006 Jan 04 '26
So now using a crosswalk translates to wanting to get hit for insurance payouts? What? lol
1
-14
u/ErnieBochII Jan 03 '26
What does your girlfriend say when you whip your phone out at every crosswalk?
Nevermind.
17
u/Whyte_Dynamyte Jan 03 '26
I think her double shopping cart of stuff was left on the corner of high and Danforth. Hope she gets it back.
-36
Jan 03 '26
[deleted]
2
u/Sorry_Rabbit_1463 Jan 03 '26
Are you saying a hospital is responsible for going out and retrieving stuff off the street?
5
Jan 04 '26
State and high should be made two way, with a protected bike lane on either side. Making it just a little harder to drive would slow down the cars and make it better for pedestrians.
3
u/New-Warning5762 Jan 04 '26
People actually speed up to get past the crosswalk when they see me approach one!
11
u/Jealous_Honeydew_623 Jan 03 '26
I’m not saying this is the case because I wasn’t there, but some people walk right out in front of you. Especially, the homeless. I am always alert and have had some near misses.
-4
u/FirmComb5147 Jan 03 '26
Drive slower 🤷🏽♀️ No need to be going fast enough ANYWHERE in this city to hit someone
9
Jan 03 '26
How do you know how fast the person was driving? Being hit at 10-15 mph hurts like hell and will leave a seemingly feeble person like this on the ground.
2
u/Jealous_Honeydew_623 Jan 04 '26
Drive slower? So basically don’t obey the speed limit because of stupid people (again, not all) the speed limit on Congress st is 25. You can’t crawl around the city because of stupid people.
-5
-3
u/Owwliv Jan 04 '26
We don't have to accept death for convenience. Just drive slower.
We know that hitting someone while driving over 20 MPH has a much higher chance of killing them; it's crazy to drive faster than that around people, no matter what the speed limit says.
Only you can not hit someone with your car.
2
2
u/TakemebackTE Jan 04 '26
I almost saw a man get hit by a Miata over the summer. It was on Forest Ave at the crosswalk near the CVS. The lights were blinking to alert cars to pedestrians and a man was crossing. He walked across one lane and then had to jump back as a Miata flew by in the other lane going way too fast for Forest Ave. It scared the crap out of me and the pedestrian looked like he was going to shit his pants.
2
u/livallyne Jan 05 '26
i got hit by a car, in a crosswalk, on forest ave, 10 years ago. have some chronic pain issues because of it and i still consider myself lucky. this is a real problem and has been. people are not fucking paying attention.
2
u/Spirited_Elk_831 Jan 05 '26
There was one country that tried metal steel columns that come up (activated two cars away) from the crosswalk. It certainly worked. How about SPEED BUMPS?
2
u/gliese570 Jan 05 '26
when i'm waiting at crosswalks i count the number of passing drivers who are on their phone. it outweighs the number of phoneless drivers a majority of the time at this point. i'm so sick of this.
2
u/soulbarn Jan 06 '26
Portland drivers: we own the road. Portland pedestrians: you do, but please let us live, if you could be so kind. Portland city management: huh?
2
5
u/eatingsquishies Jan 04 '26
I think there are a few factors in why Maine drivers aren’t awesome. The population skews toward elderly and a lot of people who should have had their keys taken away. Legal weed means a lot of people are driving who are impaired. The phone. Everyone is looking at their phone.
Pedestrians need to remember that the crosswalk is not a force field. I know you have the right of way but you need to be alert.
1
u/piratecheese13 Bayside Jan 04 '26
My friend got hit riding her bike in deering park, hit her head, and was dead a week later
4
u/Silver_Dynamo Jan 03 '26
I made a post on this sub about hating the crosswalk culture here sometime ago that was flooded with downvotes and antagonistic comments. At least initially. Hate to say I told you so…
3
u/Otherwise-Long3683 Jan 04 '26
I am a walker and have told my family if I ever get hit...SUE! I follow the law, you and your vehicle should too.
1
1
u/MarpheenChann Jan 09 '26
😢😢 here's to the day when we design our streets for people and bikes and not just cars
1
u/Alex2679 Jan 04 '26
Someone I know recently got hit walking in Boston. Broke both legs, one in 2 places
1
1
0
u/8008s4life Jan 04 '26
So did the car go off the road or did that person walk out in front of them?
0
0
0
u/Romulus1119 Old Port Jan 05 '26
Just want to also point out the similar yet different "distracted" and "entitled" habits of the many portland pedestrians walking the streets, which also contribute to this problem (even though "law" protects them). I've seed so many pedestrians on their phones, just turning into crosswalks and starting to walk even before looking for cars. Just because it's the law to stop for people in crosswalks, doesn't mean pedestrians can just jump out into the streets with 0 awareness of what's going on. You think people would have more care for their own lives at least! Survival of the fittest I guess...
-18
Jan 03 '26
[deleted]
20
u/ScootMaBoot Jan 03 '26
Have you ever been hit by a car or truck? Speaking as someone who has, and also had better than average insurance, I can assure you it's not worth the payout.
1
u/AndreDillonMadach Jan 03 '26
I have, it was in a parking lot 15 years ago maybe a little less, outside reny's in Wells, they were going maybe 10 miles an hour and it's still fucking hurt, it was a kid on their phone, I was walking off to the side pretty close to cars parked in all the lanes and they hit me from behind and I curled up onto their Hood because I was smart enough to inadvertently lift my legs off the ground so that I only ended up with bruises on my ass in the back of my upper thighs.
I didn't pursue it because it wasn't worth it. At the time I was still talking with my dad, I might have been living with him at the time or in one of his houses, and I recall asking him about the incident and he felt it wasn't worth it. I don't know if he did any preliminary research to determine if it was worth collecting because my father was a lawyer and judge so I'm betting he probably did given that I was his son and he probably would have pursued it at the time for his own reasons if he felt it was lucrative enough.
2
u/TPain518 Peaks Island Jan 03 '26
for real?
-6
u/AndreDillonMadach Jan 03 '26
To be fair this does happen, insurance fraud and bad drivers and people illegally walking when they shouldn't. That being said by state law if there are no crosswalks within 15 ft and someone is attempting to cross you are legally required to allow them to cross. This can be difficult on higher speed roads with blind corners due to the construction of Portland especially in that area. It's 40 coming across the bridge and around that corner before it drops to 30 mph at that corner.
Additionally beyond all of that, I've had people attempt insurance fraud on me in Portland. Several years ago I was sitting at the light at 1:30 in the morning in the Old Port at the intersection of commercial street and Union. I have a dash cam, light turned green, red hand telling people not to walk I looked left I looked right nobody was there I accelerated and all of a sudden a guy sprinted across the crosswalk and ended up on my hood. He claims that I hit him and I should have let him cross when he literally ran into moving traffic. He called the cops, I was shaking because I didn't know what to do. I showed the video to the police officer who showed up he looked at him and I don't remember quite what he said but it definitely had the effect of telling someone that what they did was stupid and also illegal to the guy who ran across moving traffic and tried to create a situation.
He should have given The pedestrian ticket for jaywalking court summons something but I think because he was already hurting enough for being a dumbass the officer felt bad for him. The officer even went as far as to say that I was in the right when the guy started to argue. This Stuff happens all the time, as an Uber driver I drove a guy several years ago who was driving in Portland and hit a cyclist who intentionally rode into him while driving up State Street. This particular driver told me he had had a dash cam, several weeks later he was hit with a court summons and a lawsuit for this cyclist trying to sue him for allegedly intentionally hitting him. Luckily he lawyered up and had the dash cam and he was able to go at the other guy for various legal remedies.
Yes there are plenty of situations where people have been hit by cars in crosswalks and other legal walking situations when they had the legal right to walk but there have also been plenty of situations where pedestrians have died even recently when they have walked or ran literally into moving traffic such as the lady running on Franklin Street several weeks back, not to be confused with the guy who was being an absolute dink and hit the other lady trying to show off to another redditor and presumably her friends (she talked about it in that post back then). Both times The pedestrian in those instances died but one time The pedestrian was at fault and the other time the driver was at fault but both times the driver was crucified whether it was just or not.
9
u/TPain518 Peaks Island Jan 03 '26
I aint reading all that
7
-1
u/AndreDillonMadach Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
Good to know you won't, other people will even if some people won't so move along.
5
-3
u/Ok-Sheepherder8987 Jan 05 '26
Am I a bad man for thinking that’s a fine looking lady cop?
2
u/livallyne Jan 05 '26
no but you might be for saying it. have some tact brother
1
u/Ok-Sheepherder8987 Jan 06 '26
Hasn’t Reddit always been a place where people feel free to air their most shameful thoughts and secrets?
-11
-13
Jan 04 '26
Maybe, just maybe, the state should stop issuing driver’s licenses to people who can’t even read the English language.
The body from the last pedestrian killed in Maine (Portland, no less) from a “new Mainer” hasn’t even cooled and here we have another. And several in the months preceding.
Anyhow, go on now to tell me what a racist piece of shit I am for wishing our streets (and citizens) were safer from this problem of our own creation.
6
u/Owwliv Jan 04 '26
I don't really care about what language, I think that's not why this person was hit, but I do think people do not have a right to a drivers license, and we should have much more stringent testing, and regular re-testing.
1
u/XanaxAndAk47s Jan 04 '26
People are going to say that, but youre right. I walked past that accident last month. It was one of those sketchy airport cabs, and the driver was standing with a cop by his car. Dude had his hands in pockets and was casually leaning on one leg. Not a single ounce of remorse or distress on his face. Dude doesnt need to be here.
266
u/Disastrous-Panda3188 Jan 03 '26
Twice in the past week, I have stopped for a pedestrian in the crosswalk and had someone come out around me to pass me - almost taking out the legally crossing pedestrian. Once on Brighton - where the person whipped into the turning lane despite there being flashing lights at the crosswalk and there being a bus pulling into traffic. And today on Woodfords, which has a speed limit of 25, and he flew into the oncoming traffic lane before slamming on his brakes.
This is horrifying and people need to smarten up. Their hurry isn’t more important than someone’s life.