WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015
LOCAL NEWS
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Occupant dies
after wreck on
former Highway
395 safety corridor
Traffic volume
down north of
Hermiston, but
number of crashes
remains steady
By SEAN HART
Staff Writer
A stretch of Highway
395 that was once a des-
ignated safety corridor
claimed another life last
week. And another person
remains in serious condi-
tion after an Oct. 19 colli-
sion north of Hermiston.
Jacelyn Loyce Black,
36, Hermiston, died Oct.
25 in Richland. She was the
passenger in a 2003 Honda
Civic driven by Jami Lynne
Masters, 52, Boardman,
who remains in serious
condition after being Àown
by air ambulance to Kadlec
Regional Medical Center
in Richland. Masters was a
caregiver with the Eastern
Oregon Support Services
Brokerage who provided
support to Black, who had
Down syndrome.
While traveling south on
Highway 395, their vehicle
collided with a 2010 Toyota
Scion driven by Elizabeth
Cervantes, 22, Hermiston,
who attempted to turn left
onto Baggett Lane, Ore-
gon State Police Sgt. Seth
Cooney said. Cervantes
was also taken to a hospital
by ambulance.
Almost exactly one week
later — at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26
— it happened again. Sonia
Mota-Sotelo was traveling
south on the highway in a
2004 Ford Focus when Ash-
ley Brooks, 27, La Grande,
attempted to turn her 2001
Ford Focus onto Baggett
Lane from the northbound
turning lane, and the vehi-
cles collided, Cooney said.
Fortunately, Mota-Sotelo
and Brooks were the only
vehicle occupants, and
neither was taken to a hos-
pital. Cooney said Brooks
was cited for driving while
her license was suspended.
But Jerrad Little, the OSP
trooper investigating both
wrecks, said he did not be-
lieve impairment or speed
contributed to either of the
collisions.
Cooney said this is not
the ¿rst and second times
concerns have been voiced
about the highway north of
Hermiston.
“For as many businesses
that are in there with a 55
mile per hour speed limit,
there is a higher potential
for crashes because you’ve
got a lot more people com-
ing in and out of traf¿c,´ he
said. “It used to be a safety
corridor, which is based in
part on the total number of
crashes. During the period
it was a safety corridor, that
number of crashes dropped,
so it lost its safety corridor
designation.´
The roughly four-mile
stretch from Hermiston’s
northern city limit near
Theater Lane to Highway
730 was ¿rst designat-
ed as a safety corridor in
February 1997, according
to Oregon Department of
Transportation documents.
Cooney said the designat-
ed was lifted several years
ago, but he was not sure ex-
actly when.
ODOT data from 1995-
2004 show seven people
were killed in crashes on
Highway 395 north of
Hermiston. From 2005-
2014, two people died in
the four-mile stretch north
of the city and two people
died in the eight-mile sec-
tion to its south.
The average traf¿c vol-
ume actually decreased in
the northern section, from
16,000 per day at Joy Lane
in 1995 to 14,100 in 2005
and to 13,100 in 2014, even
while traf¿c within the city
increased. Despite the vol-
ume Àuctuations, the total
number of crashes for the
northern section remained
at about 215 for both de-
cades, but crashes on the
southern section decreased
from 736 to 609.
Tom Strandberg, an
ODOT public affairs em-
ployee in La Grande, said he
believed the median barrier
installed between Hermis-
ton and Stan¿eld decreased
the number of wrecks on the
southern stretch.
“We had a lot of crash-
es,´ he said. “People were
using the middle lane for
passing instead of turning.´
There are far more busi-
ness access points along
the highway to the north
of Hermiston than to the
south, however, and about
twice as much traf¿c.
Cooney said these factors
make the northern stretch
more dangerous.
“This is the world we
live in,´ he said. “The more
drivers we have on the
road, the more opportunity
we have for crashes.´
Cooney said he was not
sure whether OSP has been
responding to more wrecks
lately, but Hermiston Fire
& Emergency Services
Chief Scott Stanton said the
department responded to 18
wrecks between Aug. 1 and
Oct. 27 last year and 38 in
the same period this year.
Although the actions
will not prevent all wrecks,
Cooney said drivers can
and should take precautions
to reduce the risk.
“The number one thing
is Must Àat pay attention,´ he
said. “Watch traf¿c at a far-
ther distance ahead of your-
self, increase following dis-
tance and slow down.´
STAFF PHOTO BY SEAN HART
Hermiston Fire & Emergency Services personnel extricate Jacelyn Loyce Black, 36, Hermiston, from a silver Honda Civic
involved in a wreck with a maroon Toyota Scion at the intersection of Highway 395 and Baggett Lane north of Hermiston Oct.
19. Black was transported to a hospital but died Oct. 25. The driver of the Civic, Jami Lynne Masters, 52, Boardman, remains in
serious condition at Kadlec Regional Medical Center after being transported there by air ambulance. The driver of the Scion,
Elizabeth Cervantes, 22, Hermiston, was transported by ground ambulance to Good Shepherd Medical Center.
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Teen contracts plague
after Heppner hunt
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
A Crook County teen-
ager is recovering in inten-
sive care after contracting
bubonic plague during a
hunting trip last month
near Heppner.
Oregon health of¿cials
said the girl likely caught
the disease from a Àea bite
sometime during the trip,
which started Oct. 16. She
reportedly became sick on
Oct. 21 and was hospital-
ized in Bend three days
later.
Bubonic plague is an
infectious bacterial dis-
ease carried by squirrels,
chipmunks and other wild
rodents.
When an infected ani-
mal becomes sick, its Àeas
can carry the disease to
other animals or humans
through bites.
Plague is commonly
associated with the Black
Death, a major pandemic
that killed somewhere be-
tween 75-200 million peo-
ple in Europe in the 14th
century.
“Many people think
of the plague as a disease
of the past, but it’s still
very much present in our
environment, particular-
ly among wildlife,´ said
Emilio DeBess, Oregon’s
state public health veteri-
narian.
Only eight human cases
of plague have been di-
agnosed in Oregon since
1995, and no deaths have
been reported. The disease
is treatable with antibiotics
if caught early.
DeBess
recommends
people avoid all contact
with wild rodents.
For more information
about plague, visit www.
cdc.gov/plague.
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