UPDATE: Both students were released from the hospital early Tuesday morning. Enos suffered a concussion and a broken bone in his lower leg, and Allen had bruises and cuts but no other major injuries.
University Operations Special Projects Manager Jim Kuffner told The Beacon he planned to contact the city again Tuesday afternoon about getting improved lighting added to either side of the crosswalk, though he said the City of Portland will not replace the lighting in the center median due to cost and how frequently the lights are knocked down in collisions.
"This is a reminder that we all need to have an abundance of caution when crossing a road, especially a busy one like that, one that's busy with both cars and pedestrians," said Gerald Gregg, director of UP's Public Safety Department, which responded to the crash along with Portland Police and Fire.
"Even if we have the walk signal, we need to pause for a moment and make sure that the driver of the car is appropriately responding to the signals."
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Two students were hit while walking across the crosswalk outside the University of Portland's main entrance around 7 p.m. on Monday night.
Seniors Gavin Enos and A.J. Allen were responsive after being hit by a car driving north on Willamette Blvd., but Enos was stretchered onto an ambulance. Both students were transported by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Hospital, according to a Public Safety officer at the scene.
"I just can't believe this happened again," junior Laura Manning, who witnessed the collision, said. Manning was referring to a similar crash that happened at the same crosswalk earlier this month.
"It happened so fast," she said, "they just started walking across and the car came right through."
Manning says she was in her car about to turn left into the university entrance when she saw the accident happen, and recalled that the blinking lights on either side of the street designating that someone is crossing didn't appear to be going off.
The driver of the car that hit the students looked shaken as she talked with Portland Police officers after the incident.
Following the collision on Feb. 1, where one student was hit but not seriously injured, the University got back in contact with the City of Portland about fixing the light in the center of the crosswalk after it was taken out in yet another collision in November (though that one did not involve any pedestrians). A representative of the Portland Bureau of Transportation said the city would be updating the lights on either side of the crosswalk in March, so in the last week, the University had taken action of its own, installing additional signage in the center of the crosswalk and on either side of the street.
The Beacon will be making efforts to follow up with the students who were hurt in the accident.
