When Ruth Epperson died from injuries suffered when a car struck her on a North Belfast Avenue sidewalk, it wasn’t just a tragedy for her family and friends. It was a sad day for all pedestrians in Augusta. It’s a scary place out there for anyone on foot.

In 2010, two people died after being hit by cars on Bangor Street. The accidents happened within six weeks of each other, prompting city officials to look into pedestrian safety issues. Pedestrian-activated lights have been installed at at least one crosswalk on Bangor Street, but I can personally attest that Augusta has not become any safer for walkers since then.

It doesn’t surprise me that many of the city’s pedestrian accidents happen on the east side, where I live. If my husband, Paul, heads across Bangor Street to pick up some nails at Aubuchon, I always admonish him to be safe and give him a big kiss. He always sticks to the crosswalks, but that doesn’t mean much in Augusta.

I have a few theories about why this is. I think Cony Circle drivers are angrier and more impatient than their counterparts across the river. Although the east side rotary has been improved, it is still more difficult to circumnavigate than Memorial Circle. That’s because there are so many entry points. Plus, some of those entries, such as the one at Stone Street, are much more heavily used than others, like the one at Cony Street east. Drivers trying to emerge from Cony Street don’t stand a chance against the barbarian hordes — as I think of them — barreling in from Stone Street.

The two lanes that break into three on Cony Street west are frustrating. Then there’s a bewildering number of lanes that converge around the CVS. Oh, and if you take the wrong turn out of the drugstore lot and end up crossing Memorial Bridge when you really want to be heading north on Bangor Street . . .

If it sounds like I’m a student of the Cony Circle it is because I am — magna cum laude. I know the best ways to get around it on foot, by car or on my Vespa scooter. All three methods of transportation have their frightening moments, but when I’m walking I am, and feel that I am, most vulnerable. At least on the Vespa I’m wearing a helmet.

One of the major reasons I live in Augusta is that I enjoy and appreciate the ability to walk places, such as restaurants, the post office and City Center. I want to be ecologically responsible and like to fit exercise into my day. In many ways, Augusta is a walkable city. There are sidewalks throughout my neighborhood, and plenty of crosswalks. If I had the time and energy to do so, I could walk to just about any venue in the community. Uh, I guess I’d have to have the courage, too.

Besides angry drivers, pedestrians in our fair city must face the fact that we are a minority. I reflected on this thought when I was in Portland recently. It took me a good 20 minutes — in my car — to get from the area of the bus terminal to the Eastern Promenade. Stop lights all along Congress Street serve not only vehicles, but pedestrians who are trying to cross it. Drivers in downtown Portland, as well as in the Old Port, know they have to be mindful of pedestrians. There’s no ignoring them.

This brings me to two more reasons why pedestrians fare so badly in Augusta. We’re a service center, so at any given moment on our roads, possibly half of all drivers are from out of town. Many are coming in from West Podunk, where there are no traffic lights or crosswalks, and surely that’s “The Way Life Should Be.”

Since they are from away, they feel no sense of community toward Augustans on foot. They don’t know us, we don’t know them, and only crazy people walk anywhere, right?

It doesn’t have to be this way. More crosswalks on our busiest roads need to be equipped with traffic signals. Keeping crosswalks painted should be a priority. A city-wide campaign to get more people walking would be wonderful. There is a power in numbers. Perhaps well-used pedestrian routes around schools and state government buildings could be proudly labeled as such.

City officials should take advantage of constantly rising gas prices to tout Augusta as a walkable — and thus economical — city. First, though, they have to do more to protect those of us who are already here, walking around.

Liz Soares welcomes e-mail at [email protected].