On Jan. 25, another University of Oregon student was killed on a bike by a driver going too fast on a poorly designed street. The death of Erick Munene Njue, a student living at university family housing at Patterson Street and 22nd Avenue, follows the death a few months ago of Elizabeth Cardenas Figueroa, who was killed while crossing East Sixth Avenue where it meets East Eighth Avenue at the old Eugene Water & Electric Board storage yard downtown.
Erick and Elizabeth died in similar circumstances: In both instances, they were crossing a one-way street with two car lanes; the students waited for the road to clear to cross, where one driver stopped to allow the student to cross, but a second driver a bit farther back in the other lane failed to stop as required by law, and ultimately struck and killed the student.
The investigation of the crash that killed Elizabeth concluded the driver could have been traveling as fast as 40 mph on a 25 mph street; the final investigation report in the crash that killed Erick is still forthcoming…