Breaking: another bike accident
A bicyclist was hit at the intersection of N Greely and Interstate a few moments ago. I just went by on Max. It was a car/bike collision. No ambulance yet and it appeared people were on the phone with 911. Biker was on the ground being attended to by another person. He/she was wearing a helmet and appeared to be conscious. Wishing you well biker.
Two accidents at the same intersection. What will it take?
Update: I just talked with Jonathan over @ Bikeportland.org and he was just arriving on scene. More details will probably be on his site later in the morning.
Update 10:02am: Over at BikePortland.org, Jonathan has posted. In the comments, a witness has stated what they saw:
I was right behind her. I called 911 and stayed with her until they took her away. I gave my info and description of the accident to the cop. Who said about the driver “i dont think her reflexes are that good.” after i said she seemed to speed up after hitting her and ran her over! The biker was miraculously calm and only complaining about her shoulder. She was hit by the car, flew over the car and then ran over by the car. The car driver had previously cut off two other bikers at the top of the hill when whipping into a parking lot and back out.She didn’t appear to be sited at the scene. Hopefully she will be!
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The truly frustrating thing about this is that with the amount of publicity the whole issue is receiving, you’d think that both bicyclists and motorists would be even more aware right now. Obviously, changes need to happen either in the intersections or in the law; an awareness program is not going to help.
My thoughts are with the biker.
Yeah, a car hit a bicyclist in broad daylight right in front of a large memorial to a dead bicyclist.
way to go people, you know NOTHING, have no information whatsoever, but already it’s the driver’s fault.
Good job at being assholes.
Hey there Sickie:
Odds are good if the bike and the cyclist are on the ground, they were hit. Generally if the bike hit the car the cyclist is usually still upright. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong, it doesn’t mean the car was at fault, it just means that basic math dictates whether the car was doing something legal or not that THOUSAND pounds tends to win when the challenger is like two HUNDRED pounds.
I don’t see anywhere in my post or my comment where blame is being laid. Take a chill pill. I even used the word collision instead of accident.
Oh please please PLEASE give me the IP address of fucktard “sick of whiny bikers”
Yesterday had an encounter with a bicyclist. If it’s typical of the local ilk, no wonder there’s more accidents.
This one was riding along in the bike lane on the right. He glanced back at me and smiled, no signal or other indication of his intent to do anything but keep on biking straight on. I just kept straight on, too. But as I passed him he suddenly swerved toward me and screamed profanities.
If he had swerved into me he would have gotten what he deserved — hit. It would have been my fault only for not taking that bicyclist mindreading pill that morning!
Something tells me that there was probably a little more to it than what you are telling us, Bull.
dear sick of whiny bikers
do you have a problem with reading comprehension. There are witnessing stating that the bicyclist was going straight and the car made a right turn into her. Have you read your driver’s manual lately? Do you know the rules of the road. Its quite clear from on scene reports who is at fault.
easy answer…..quit driving cars
I do not know, but would venture to say that this incident is probably the drivers fault (citing the witness report of cutting off bicyclists prior to the accident). Unfortunately the two most recently publicised bycyclist deaths seem to provoke much hatred from bycyclists toward the driving community (both of which were the bicyclists fault). Each incident needs to be treated differently and no assumptions made until the facts are determined. I will say that it has been my experience driving in the Portland Metro area for over 10 years it is about 50/50 when it comes to who is at fault with the incidents i have seen. Although everytime I am downtown I constantly see bicyclists run red lights, cut off both pedestrians and drivers and make unadvertised turns. This in turn tends to make me more of a “driver” supporter!
“easy answer…..quit driving cars”
Yeah, because THAT’s a realistic option. You heard it here first - everyone should just park their cars, and go back in time 80 years. I’m sure there would be ZERO socioeconomic impacts from that.
Just remember… the laws of physics will trump the laws of Oregon.
I am also growing tired of cocky bicyclists in PDX. I don’t think an awareness campaign will do much; I feel that bike riders who try to get in the way of an auto will end up taking notice after enough of them are hit on the roads. Just like in the market place, “May the strongest survive!”.
I’m generally of the attitude (and I ride a bike a LOT), that most PDX bicyclists really need to pay more attention.
At the same time though, if the rider is on the ground and you just hit them with a car you STOP and try to help.
Leaving the scene is a cowardly action. I can’t publicly say what I think should be done with those types of people… it’s sickening.
It is time to get over being a biker or a driver. We are all trying to get in, out, and around our city in the best way we can. Most of us who bike commute are doing so to lessen congestion and help the entire flow of traffic whether it is car, bike, pedestrian, or bus. We all need to watch out for each other and everybody needs to follow the rules and be a lot more concerned about safety and paying attention to what we are doing. Bikers may pay the bigger physical cost but drivers will pay significant financial costs in these accidents if they are found to be at fault. That $250K insurance pays (if you even have that much) will only be the start of the cost paid. It will be life changing for both parties involved.
cyclists need to…blah blah blah
drivers need to…blah blah blah.
Both need to stop being bitchy dinks
start acting like good human beings. it works.
Hey, “Forusall” — you claim that the two recent cyclists deaths were the fault of the cyclists, but you are incredibly wrong with that statement. Tracey Sparling and Brett Jarilomek were killed while they were riding legally IN A BIKE LANE, because the turning vehicles did not yield to the cyclists as the law dictates. If you are assuming the cyclists are at fault because the drivers did not receive citations, you are simply wrong. The Portland police are doing a shameful job of enforcing the existing laws, and both drivers in both cases should have at least been cited for failure to yield.
Cyclists who are obeying the law are not at fault if the laws they are obeying do not protect them. Putting a bike lane in a bad location, then blaming the cyclists who are trying to obey the law by using those poorly placed lanes is horrendous public policy.
Everyone here who is spewing ignorant, hateful rhetoric needs to revisit their DMV manual for an educational reminder about your obligations as a driver. That means yielding to bikes in bike lanes — and crosswalks, too! Really, read your manual! It IS legal to ride a bike in a crosswalk, but most of you even refuse to yield to pedestrians when the law calls for it.
And yes, I’d say the same thing about cyclists who flaut the laws … but again, in the case of the two recent deaths, both cyclists were doing just what the law tells you to do. Their deaths were pointless tragedies caused by bad drivers.
I have been driving for the past 23 years and from my observations bike riders have been getting more militant, back some 23 years ago in the oregon drivers manual it said that bike riders “had” to fallow the same rules as “cars” ie stop on red go on green signal for a turn….
It was kgw 8 last night they set up a camera in ladds addition and ran a tape for I think five min. and they cought some thing like 6 cars rolling thrue a stop sign and some thing like 30-60 bikes doing the same thing.
The laws need to be enforced if one bike rider got 6-8 tickets for running a stop and not signaling a turn I think “they” will straighten up and fly right.
Hay Some Girl I assume you have never been in a BIG truck I have now with the lady that was hit by the truck in downtown if she was at the stop befor the truck got there then yes the truck was in the wrong BUT if the truck was at the stop before she got there she was in the wrong in this respect he could not see her and did not know she was there if you stand next to the door the driver can’t see you as for the guy that hit and went under the garbage truck the biker was going to fast to stop and by the way do you know what size of “foot print” a bike has I juess not it’s smaller than a dime and you expect to stop a 200 pound object to stop when the contact service of said object is about the size of both your thumb nails you need to stop riding a bike and start walking.
A huge help on the road would be that much like to drive a vehicle bicyclists need to be licensed and pay insurance. They need to take a test every few years just like motorists and they need to be given tickets when they run red lights. cut people off, block traffic, etc.
This is only fair. I see cars do stupid things all day and then I see bicyclist do stupid things… both cause accidents and both cause problems.
My thoughts go out to the cyclist. I hope he/she will be fine.
Stupid thing in a car == death.
Stupid thing on a bike == usually not death.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE.
As for paying “fees” or “license costs” etc, I’d be up for that. I hate any more Government bueracratic bullshit than we already have, it’s disgusting, but it is stupid to be allowed to operate in traffic with one mode licensed and one not.
On the same note, auto users should pay full fees for road usage and stop mooching off of the minority top % of income earners. I guarantee we’d have a TON less traffic because people would be forced to live within their means, instead of within other peoples means.
…and the list of “fixes” to the system could go on and on…
What is most interesting to me about this debate is that its ultimately about people. Does it matter if the “other person” is on a bike or in a car? No, because people find a reason to bitch, moan and complain about what the other driver is doing (I include cyclists in the term, driver).
I’ve seen people in cars do horrible, rude and aggressive stuff. There are also times when a biker does it to me. I don’t commute to work on my bike but I have a feeling if I did it would make me a bit more wary and feisty about dealing with cars.
Both sides need to chill out and look at both sides. I have forced myself to drive more slowly, and to become as aware as I feel I can possibly be when behind the wheel. How hard it it for my fellow drivers to do that same?!
My heart was heavy when I heard about both deaths and yesterdays accident, too. I hope the person who took off is caught, does that driver have a conscious?
I’ve only lived here for a short time, and I was an avid biker before, but there is no way I’m getting on a bike in this town. Not only are the drivers law breakers, but the bikers are worse! I’ve nearly killed 2 or three of them in the NE because they ran stop signs, light or turned left on a “no left turn” signal, right in front of me! I’m surprised there aren’t more bike on bike accidents as they race to get in front of one another on busy streets!
Though I do believe lots of times the motorists are to blame for not looking in their mirror when making a right turn through a bike lane, I also think they are falsely accused for other types of accidents. I recently read about an accident on NE Fremont where a biker was turning left from 11th street INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC, and was hit by a car traveling east on Fremont. Even though it was clearly the bikers fault for not waiting for a break in traffic before merging left, the police called it “failure to yield” to the motorist. If this was a car on car accident it would be an open/shut case of the person on 11th merging incorrectly into oncoming traffic that had the right of way. I think sometimes it’s just easier to blame the motorist because they aren’t the ones lying on the ground bleeding. I can understand that.
I will say that I think the “bike insurance” idea is brilliant! If they cause an accident shouldn’t they be just as responsible for restitution?