God Bless America: Actually, it was the tragic deaths of three kids over two years ago in Springfield that catalyzed the push to make our streets safer for everyone. In that case, a pickup driver ran a red light and hit a family, killing all the children and leaving the mother critically injured. The mother and kids were legally crossing Main Street in a crosswalk with a green light.

If you read the draft plan, you will see it includes efforts aimed at making our streets safer for different kinds of users: people driving, riding the bus, bicycling, walking, or using a wheelchair. With Lane County having suffered more traffic deaths in the last two years for which we have data than any other county in Oregon — and the majority of those being people in cars — surely we can agree that we want to save lives. If you are a car driver, no one is trying to get you out of your car. We just want you to be as safe as anyone else.

#SaferStreetsForEveryone