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Driver: Improve pedestrian safety at site of fatality

“It was terrible,” Dane Larson recalled about the accident two years ago in which he struck and killed a pedestrian on Roosevelt Boulevard. “That stays with you for a long time.”

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer “It was terrible,” Dane Larson recalled about the accident two years ago in which he struck and killed a pedestrian on Roosevelt Boulevard. “That stays with you for a long time.”

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By Rick McCrabb, Columnist 12:32 AM Wednesday, November 18, 2009

One fatal accident is one too many for Dane Larson.

But in the less than 26 months, Larson, 35, of Middletown, has seen two fatal accidents involving pedestrians near Roosevelt Boulevard and Jackson Lane.

Now, following the most recent fatality on Nov. 9, Larson is urging city officials to take steps to possibly reduce the number of accidents.

“Something has to be done,” Larson said Monday while standing along Roosevelt. “Someone needs to step it up. This can’t keep happening.”

Just then, a man darted between automobiles on Roosevelt. “See what I mean?” he said.

Larson said he has contacted the city about reducing the speed limit on Roosevelt from 45 mph to 35 mph, adding “do not cross” signs in the grass median, and installing more street lights, which because of the businesses and nearby apartments, is heavily traveled by pedestrians.

Crosswalks should be added at Roosevelt and Jackson and Roosevelt and Bonita Drive.

He said a streetlight near the Roosevelt shopping center has been burned out for months, despite his numerous calls to Duke and the city.

“It’s too dark for the drivers to react,” he said. “By the time you see (pedestrians), it’s too late.”

He speaks from experience. On Sept. 2, 2007, Larson, was driving westbound on Roosevelt near Jackson. He said a man, Gene J. Eakins, 77, of Middletown, was staggering in the left-hand lane of Roosevelt. Larson said he slowed, but the man stepped into Larson’s lane and was struck and killed. Larson was not cited.

Fatal crash ‘flashbacks’  continue to haunt man

Returning from visiting friends in Cincinnati, Larson had a sickening feeling earlier this month as he approached the Roosevelt Boulevard and Jackson Lane intersection and saw the flashing lights and Middletown police redirecting traffic.

Then he glanced to his left and saw a shoe — circled by spray paint by police — lying in the middle of Roosevelt.

“Oh my God,” he said. “Oh my God. That person has got to be dead.”

Larson was right.

On Nov. 9, Brittney Bess, of Middletown, was driving eastbound on Roosevelt when she hit pedestrian Charles "Randy" Kurtz, 54, of Middletown, while he was crossing Roosevelt Boulevard just east of Jackson Lane. Kurtz was transported to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, where he died that night.

Driving by the fatal accident brought back “terrible memories” for Larson.

Just over two years ago, Larson, who delivered pizzas at the time, said he was returning home after dropping off a receipt to a customer when he struck and killed Gene Eakins, 77, of Middletown, who was walking across Roosevelt. Larson said he saw Eakins in the left lane. He slowed down, but for some reason, Eakins stepped into the path of his car.

Larson, 35, said Eakins hit the hood of his blue Hyundai Tiburon and flipped on his roof, before being thrown to the street. Eakins was pronounced dead at the scene. Larson was not cited.

For months, Larson has had “bad flashbacks” about the accident. “It was terrible,” he said Monday while standing near the accident scene. “That stays with you for a long time.”

Larson said his car, which he recently had paid off, was totaled, and his right hand, seriously injured in the accident, required several surgeries. One of his knuckles remains swollen.

He was off work for so long that he lost his jobs as a pizza deliveryman and a retail accountant.

He eventually went on disability, but now delivers for a different national pizza chain and works for Kohl’s in Monroe.

Still, he will never forget the night he accidentally killed a man.

“That’s something that you don’t ever really get over,” he said. “You try to have ‘closure,’ but it hasn’t really happened yet.”

Then he turned back toward Roosevelt for another glance: “At some time, you need to go on with your life. I’m just not sure when that next step will happen.”

Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2872 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com

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This article is mostly fiction.
Anyone that knows Dane knows this is a bunch of lies.
It's sad that so called journalists don't check their FACTS before they write an article.

John
4:35 PM, 1/13/2010

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Dane, I can't say that I imagine what you must be going through.. But I can say that at the end of the road, there is peace! I pray that you will receive that peace so you may move on with your life! I do agree this is a bad intersection for pedestrians. People dart out all the time in front of me to the point I have to immediately stop. Your ideas are very good, I just wish Council would follow through with this! One is too many, but two is unnecessary!

This Too Shall Pass
11:49 AM, 11/18/2009

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