This year’s Catch the Leprechaun 5K, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, has moved to Melton Lake Park, organizers said.
The 5K is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, March 9. The race course will follow Melton Lake Drive and greenway, a press release said.
The pedestrian crossing at Melton Lake Drive and Emory Valley Road. (Submitted image)
The subject of this article is safety awareness for pedestrians and drivers at the crosswalk near the intersection of Melton Lake Greenway and Emory Valley Road Greenway (pictured at left), which I have dubbed the “Death Zone.â€
To establish some credibility on the subject, I’ll note that I’ve been running competitively for 34 years, running nearly 75,000 miles, placing in all race distances and age categories. I’m also a board member of the Oak Ridge Track Club, an organization dedicated to promoting fitness through safe running and road racing in the Oak Ridge community.
Running as much as I do, and traveling as much as I do, I find myself at the subject intersection almost daily, as well as many other intersections throughout Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and the United States in general. With this running experience, I am keenly aware of the importance of running safely, and I advocate safety while running above all other interests. After all, if I don’t get home alive, my run wasn’t very successful at improving my health, right? Although an experienced runner, I have no legal experience, so I speak only as an educated layman on the legal aspects of Tennessee pedestrian law.
With regard to the “Death Zone,†a few weeks ago I came the closest to being killed by a vehicle while running than ever before—that is, other than the deliberate attempts by drivers to kill me while I’m running, which could easily be the subject of my first book. This near-death experience occurred because of three key factors, some of which are unique to this crosswalk, while others are universally applicable:
The area where a Clinton woman appears to have slid off snowy, icy Melton Lake Drive into the Clinch River on Saturday morning.
A Clinton woman escaped injury when her car slid off snowy, icy Melton Lake Drive into the Clinch River on Saturday morning, but her 2002 Nissan Pathfinder remains underwater, possibly to be pulled out of the lake later, authorities said.
Debby Hillman, 55, of Clinton was southbound on Melton Lake Drive just after 11 a.m. Saturday when she lost control of her vehicle as she tried to slow down in a curve, shifting down into second gear, an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said. Her Pathfinder slid across the northbound lane of Melton Lake Drive and into the river north of Emory Valley Road and Melton Lake Park.
Oak Ridge emergency personnel respond to a three-vehicle accident on Tuesday morning at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Melton Lake Drive. (Photo by Tom Scott)
One left turn led to a three-vehicle collision at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Melton Lake Drive on Tuesday morning, an accident report said.
The report said a Mazda pickup driven by Robert L. Ensor of Clinton turned left off the Turnpike in front of a Ford pickup driven by Daniel J. Hendricks, also of Clinton. Hendricks was unable to stop and hit Ensor’s truck as well as a Chevy pickup that was being driven by Jose G. Avalesfernandez of Oak Ridge, the report said.
