QuickTake:

Councilors voted 5-2 against the idea, which would have made it illegal for anyone in a vehicle to hand something out the window to a person on the side of the road. Some said they were not convinced of the supposed safety benefits.

Eugene city councilors voted 5-2 on Wednesday, Feb. 18, against a proposal to fine drivers giving to roadside panhandlers.

Several councilors pointed to an absence of data on how the proposed city ordinance would make streets safer.

“I think several of us have asked for a wider, broader impact analysis of where safety is really needed, where our attention is really needed,” said councilor Lyndsie Leech.

Leech referred to recent fatal traffic collisions involving bicyclists.

“We have not even spoken out loud about that, or what we could possibly do about that,” Leech said, contrasting that “obvious” concern with the issue addressed by the roadside proposal.

“We have a very obvious issue with safety that people are dying from,” Leech said.

If safety concerns raised in connection with roadside panhandling were “a bigger issue, we would be seeing a lot more evidence,” Leech said.

Joining Leech in opposing the measure were councilors Eliza Kashinsky, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh and Mike Clark. Another councilor, Greg Evans, was absent from the meeting, which took place remotely.

Matt Keating and Randy Groves voted in favor of the ordinance, which would have fined motorists — whether driver or passenger — up to $50 for giving “any item of property” to a pedestrian, unless the vehicle was legally parked.

The council last September discussed a proposed ban, voting in October to have a public hearing, which was held in January.

Groves, a former fire department chief, spoke of his safety concerns and addressed the lack of data from the point of view of a first responder to traffic collisions.

“We keep talking about the lack of data, and I keep sharing, from a responder standpoint, the data isn’t collected for this,” Groves said. “If a person that’s panhandling gets hit by a car, it’s a motor vehicle versus pedestrian accident.”

In standardized collision reports, “there is no box to check for panhandling,” Groves said.

Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner answered questions from councilors and spoke of his experience as a driver in Eugene and “risky behavior that we see from time to time as people are enticed out into the roadway to either grab food or money.”

“The way I was thinking is, anytime we can cut down on vehicle-pedestrian conflict, that’s a good thing to do,” Skinner said.

Regarding comments made by Leech about bicyclist safety concerns, Skinner said he’s heard “loud and clear” the call to do more. Traffic safety will be “a focal point for us in 2026,” Skinner said of the police department.

Matt Rodrigues, Eugene’s city manager pro tem as the city awaits the arrival of newly hired manager Jenny Haruyama, said a council work session will be held in April or May to update the city’s traffic safety plan, known as Vision Zero, which was adopted in 2019.