(Photo: Reed College)
The man killed while bicycling on Southeast Gladstone yesterday was 22-year-old Mark Angeles. He had just graduated from Reed College last week.
Reed’s Vice President and Dean of Students Mike Brody emailed students and staff about the tragedy this morning. Here’s an excerpt from the email (which was also published on the school’s blog):
Dear Reed,
It is with great sorrow that I report the tragic loss of a 2015 Reed alumnus, Mark Angeles. While riding his bike near SE Gladstone and Cesar Chavez Boulevard, Mark suffered fatal injuries in an accident involving a tow truck on Wednesday, May 27. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mark graduated with a major in chemistry just last week. As a result of his many accomplishments, he was recognized as one of Reed’s “12 for 15.” He was well-known and well-loved throughout campus.
Mark’s family is mourning in private and at some point will likely want to include members of the Reed community in a celebration of Mark’s life. We will provide information as it becomes available. In the meantime, we extend to Mark’s family and his many friends our deepest condolences…I hope you will find some peace of mind and solace in this very difficult time and that you will do what you can to offer the same to others as we struggle together to cope with this terrible loss.
Reed has made counseling services available to all students and staff.
Angeles, who moved to Portland from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was an active member of the Reed College community and manager of the school’s Bike Co-op. He also loved cycling. It was more to him than simply a way to get around.
(Photo: Reed College)
On the Humans of Reed Tumblr in 2013, Angeles said, “Cycling is a way of life. It gets you places. It keeps you fit. It’s fun. Really, the thing I love most is the independence and empowerment a bicycle gives you–you can go anywhere, anytime, as long as you have the will to get in the saddle and ride.”
Angeles’ death has hit Reed and our community at large very hard.
Reed professor Paul Gronke said via email, “I don’t know how to respond, I am shocked and scared… somehow I hope we get to a point where cyclists and drivers learn from these tragic events.”
“Two of the recent crashes occurred very close to me, on intersections I ride all the time,” he continued. “I just ordered a new, safer helmet. The brakes on my single speed need to be repaired. But this is going to make me think twice about riding in some areas.”
Nearby resident Marne Duke wrote on the BikeLoudPDX email list that yesterday’s collision has, “Stricken fear into a lot of people, especially those who have other options from riding bikes.” “While PBOT needs pressure on long term policies of how we build our streets, in the short term the residents and riders of our neighborhood are rocked by this tragic event. I had more than one front porch conversation today with neighbors, some ending with riders ‘taking a break’ from bike commuting.”
Early this morning a ghost bike was placed at the intersection where Angeles died.
There’s a “No More Ghost Bikes” ride planned for Friday at 4:30 as well as other demonstrations. Stay tuned for more details and coverage.
Thanks for reading.
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God damnit.
I’m writing this through tears. Mark was one of my best friends. He spent his time at Reed managing the bike co-op, establishing a bike share program, leading a PE class to community cycling center’s holiday bike drive mechanic nights, and helping hundreds of students with their bikes. I lost one of my closest friends, and Portland as a whole lost a tireless bike advocate.
OMG, this story just keeps getting more tragic. So sad.
Ride into the sky, Mark.
My deepest condolences to Mark’s family and friends.
Horrible.
Positive thoughts to Mark, and to his family and friends.
This is heartbreaking.
I’ve been a lot queasier about getting on my bike, lately. I prepare the worst, as a rule, but more and more I find I just opt to walk or take mass transit. And I’ve never before shied away from riding in traffic, at night, etc.
“for the worst”
I agree, this is heartbreaking. Biking slow and defensively goes a long way towards safety — just do what motorcyclists do and “pretend you are invisible to other drivers”. I bike Gladstone, & cross Powell @ 26th, but this could never happen to me b/c of my biking style. A drunk driver could still take me out, but not a right/left hook. I know that what I’m saying goes against the current trends in bike advocacy, but that’s ok with me.
Dude, maybe this is not the time to tell us how you are immortal.
Definitely not but, to all riders out there please, make sure that with EVERY ride you are about to take you actually take care of yourself and are aware of your surroundings because motorists WILL NOT! NO MATTER THE RULES IN PLACE. In all these years of biking I have seen ALL types of motorists making zillions of illegal moves. Let THEM go! They weigh thousands of pounds and will hurt/kill you, otherwise !
With this tragedy and last week’s incident on the Barnes Road approach to Miller Road, it seems like downhill approaches to intersections are especially dangerous for cyclists.
Blaming the person this article about for his death is pretty bad form.
I don’t think it was meant as blame. My condolences to his family. So tragic.
This is too much. I am afraid to ride my bike around Portland anymore. Just senseless carnage caused by people not paying attention behind the wheel. My condolences to his friends and family. What a shame.
Agreed that this is a needless tragedy. It’s also the first bike fatality of 2015 – cycling overall is still very safe. Let’s mourn the loss of a friend, fellow student, advocate, and let’s push for better, safer roads and better, safer drivers – but while there are close calls, the perception of danger while biking in Portland is far greater than the reality – cycling deaths and injuries are still pretty rare. May that always be so, and may we continue to fight for it.
I can’t say enough what an amazing and special person Mark was. He was a big part of the Reed community. He was a huge advocate for bikes and bike safety. He led many bike maintenance workshops and took dozen of Reedies on their first bike rides in Portland to teach them how to ride in the city. He was a tremendously caring and helpful person. This is such a loss for us. Thank you to whomever constructed the memorial. I will be placing some Reed memorabilia on the memorial today to honor Mark and everything he has done for our community.
Rest in peace Mark. And may time bring peace and justice to all your family, friends and neighbors.
Only through direct action can we end unsafe streets. The NTSB and FAA have designed air travel with vision zero from the start. We need our roads to be designed with the same safety goals. We would save money in the long run, and people would drive less. We can do this. We must do this.
Devastatingly sad. You know what else I saw this morning other than the white bicycle at that corner? A giant Miller Brewing truck double-parked blocking the entire bike lane and part of the traffic lane to delivery to that Plaid Pantry during rush hour. Regular occurrence.
and unfortunately quite legal.
Matt, I’m not so sure. I spoke to parking enforcement last week, who said unless the section is a posted loading zone it’s illegal for any non-public vehicle to park over any part of a bike lane for more than a momentary passenger drop-off.
This is good to know. When I ride to work downtown, at least a couple of times a week there is a truck that collects paper for shredding parked in the bike lane on SW 5th in front of Kinkos. More than once I have had to merge into motorized traffic or simply wait until the recycling bins were emptied into the shredder and the bike lane was cleared again. I would like to see better enforcement around keeping vehicles out of the bike lanes.
Contact the police (non-emergency) to let them know and ask for some enforcement here.
email both Kinkos and the shredding company and complain…
If safe to do so, snap a photo, note the time and location. Get the plate in the photo and vehicle fleet ID number if possible.
I got a helmet camera photo the other day. I think I will contact the shredding company and Kinkos. Thanks for the ideas.
Dat’s right. Only goobermint workers get to break the rules.
Craig – ORS 811.560(3) – “When applicable, this subsection exempts vehicles stopped, standing or parked momentarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading property or passengers.”
What’s debatable is what constitutes “actually engaged in loading or unloading”, and if it applies to the beer truck – but the law is pretty specific in its wording. I will acknowledge that the devil is in the details.
I’m sure Parking Enforcement has a strong opinion, but ultimately it’s up to the judge.
Also, “momentarily”. How long is that?
I saw that too this morning.. makes it really dangerous for both cars and cyclists.
I stopped and (nicely) talked to that truck driver Stacy, I definitely wasn’t the first this morning. He said he has asked the Plaid Pantry manager if in the future they could use the parking lot for deliveries and said they would try. Either there or up the street at the bar or other corner market, nearly every day these lanes are blocked with trucks making deliveries. But especially this location, so close to the intersection, puts cyclists in a dangerous position in the travel lane. I took a picture and sent it in.
Words can’t express how sad it is to see a vibrant, promising person, just getting going, and suddenly such a painfully sad end. My heart completely aches for his family and friends. As a Mom, it makes me want to cry.
This. Just. Sucks.
This is so incredibly tragic. I can only imagine the greif his family is experiencing.
Since Alistair’s injury, I have spent the last three weeks considering what it would be like if my children, wife or friends were killed or hospitalized while riding their bicycle. Unlike the above front porch conversations, my impulse has been to use my car less and ride my bike more often.
I hope that his family and friends find everything they need to make it through this difficult time.
Wow. I live really close to where this happened, and my heart goes out to the Reed Community, and the people who witnessed this accident.
My thoughts go out to his friends and family. I hope you can find peace in having had such a positive soul in your life.
RIP bike brother!
Thank you Jonathan. I took my single speed into Sellwood Cycles this morning to be evaluated for safety and just ordered a new “MIPS” helmet.
Mark was apparently known as the “bike guy” around campus, helping others keep their bikes in good repair and working with a bike coop. I hope Reed can do something in his memory to make sure that all of our cyclists ride safely.
It becomes even more heartbreaking to put a face and name to a traffic fatality. Even though this would be a tragic loss of any person, as a Reed alum myself who has cycled in Portland for the last 25 years, this is particularly resonant. What frightens me is that there IS bicycle infrastructure in place at this intersection. I think we need to push for better traffic controls, however. Dedicated left turn lights would be a good starting point.
at this particular intersection there does not appear to be enough right of way to create a dedicated left turn lane. not sure what purpose the green boxes serve here, but they may have been part of the problem.
I ride full time..I ride either part or all of the way to Gresham from inner SE everyday. If I ever die while doing that the last thing I would want to see is people riding less because of my death. I didn’t know mark and only know anything about him from what was written here but I think its safe to assume that he felt the same way. Do not let irrational fear rule your life, the only way anything will change is if we step up and demand that change. The more of us that ride the safer it is
Don’t let marks death be the reason that the thing he loved dies as well
Right on, Jeff. Well said and thank you. We need to start demanding change and not backing down until change happens.
I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not irrational fear. I’ve ridden my bike for years and years and you happen to be right that I, personally, am a worrywart! I’ve always ridden defensively and (as I’ve admitted here before) I also always prepare myself mentally for something awful to happen each time I get on my bike. This habit dates back years, before we had any of the traffic congestion, frustration and road rage we have now. It hasn’t ever kept me from riding in heavy traffic or poor biking areas, or from riding at night or in dangerous areas. I take the lane and ride with cars. I just ride defensively and brace myself.
And, more often than not, I have a near miss–esp. in recent years as congestion has upped aggressive and unpredictable drivers. I’ve chipped a vertebra, had half my foot (and my whole bike) run over, have gone over my handlebars and landed on my (thankfully helmeted) head, have sustained more small injuries than I can count. And–I know you have to take my word for it–I’m paranoid and careful!
Even when you’re in the habit of ridiculous hyper-alertness, you’re exposed to a lot of bad traffic situations in Portland. There’s no separation from hundreds of aggressive, frustrated drivers except for that ridiculous, worthless painted line. I hate riding with and next to cars but I find myself having to do it all the time and getting stuck in really awful, unavoidable circumstances (dead-end bike paths or sidewalks, construction, loss of shoulder or too much crap on the shoulder, people walking in the bike lane, broken glass). And, anymore, I just wonder when I hop on whether my number’ll be up. It doesn’t induce much joy in me.
Love riding the separated paths, though there’s a whole new sea of worries and anxieties surrounding negotiating often clueless pedestrians, dog walkers, parents with kids, reckless cyclists and just plain aimless amblers & cyclists who don’t yet know path rules. It was a lot easier and more pleasant when there were fewer people, that’s for sure.
I agree that it’s no answer to give up riding. I’m just appalled at what cyclists are supposed to sign onto, as a matter of course, like it’s normal–every day when they ride. It’s not reasonable, this bargain–to expect people to take their lives into their hands every time they use this extremely vulnerable mode of transportation. I don’t want not to ride. But I feel less and less like playing that roulette.
“I’m just appalled at what cyclists are supposed to sign onto, as a matter of course, like it’s normal–every day when they ride. It’s not reasonable, this bargain–to expect people to take their lives into their hands every time they use this extremely vulnerable mode of transportation.”
It is appalling. Until we stop blaming victims of crashes like this and manage to somehow bring about a cultural—or at least a legal—shift that changes the attitude of who has the greater burden of “safety”; until we stop expecting, nay, demanding perfection (and beyond!) from cyclists while simultaneously allowing “oops!” as a valid excuse for life-threatening driving, it will continue to be appalling.
Personally, I have to put the notion of “every ride could be my last” into the far back of my mind, while also realizing that it is true and maintaining hyper-vigilance. I have to decide in each one of 50 “situations” per day whether to ride assertively and help “raise awareness” for clueless motorists, or to kow-tow to the vastly greater mass and momentum of the dinosaurs. I don’t tend to be overtly afraid when I ride, but I do use my camera and keep my life insurance paid up…
It is extremely sad that a young person just starting out on their journey through adult life—with apparently so much to offer our world—has now become a victim of a system that sees fit to marginalize bicyclists and, by implication, trivialize their lives by creating dangerous infrastructure and allowing dangerous driving on that infrastructure to explode unhindered by more stringent expectations of drivers or more strict and consistent enforcement of laws.
The last two bike accidents have been “left cross” situations. Please think hard about how car drivers approach these turns. They are anxious, trying to find a small gap in traffic to make a quick turn, and probably not looking for you. Dave Moulton suffered an accident in this way and wrote what he does to prevent it: http://davesbikeblog.squarespace.com/blog/2007/3/9/lessons-in-defensive-riding-learned-the-hard-way.html
Excellent article – I suspect that description is what occurred here, but with a possible twist to make it even worse: say the light turned yellow, and a car opposite the tow truck (and intending to go straight) slowed to stop at the light, but the cyclist, hidden by the now-slowing vehicle decided to “beat the light”. The truck driver only sees a slowing vehicle so he assumes it’s clear to go (a reasonable assumption), and makes the turn. Bike hits him because he’s going too fast to stop.
Its not a reasonable assumption if it can result in a death. In your hypothetical the bike would have been behind the car where it should be visible, then hidden. Just because something is temporarily hidden does not make it not exist. People need to look at both lanes for traffic at the intersection, and farther back too.
Might it not depend on the intersection? At this particular intersection, with its bike boxes and heavy bike traffic, drivers should be aware that cyclists could be anywhere on the road. But I think it’s a bit unfair to ask left-turning drivers to assume that anywhere in the city there’s a hidden bike about to zip through a yellow light. (On the other hand, in this hypothetical scenario, why would the tow truck be turning on a yellow? Yellow lights are for vehicles moving too fast to stop, not vehicles trying to squeeze by at the last minute.)
i am pretty sure you are allowed to hang in the intersection waiting for an opening to make your left. certainly this is a typical move.
A reason to use offensively bright front LED blinkers even in daylight.
The motoring primate is a dumb, inattentive beastie that needs the periodic sharp stick in the eye to get it’s attention.
Bike people! News flash! We aren’t the exemplary practucioners of safety. Time and time again I see far too many riders disregarding The Rules of The Road.
Use your hand signals. Don’t dart in and out of traffic.
For gods sake quit blowing thru stop signs!
I figured out as a kid cars are bigger and meaner. As an adult I figured most drivers are idiots. PAY ATTENTION!
YOU ARE INVISIBLE!
While I agree that being careful, in fact, extra careful as a cyclist, it sounds like this situation falls on the shoulders of the motorist. Left turns always yield to oncoming traffic, and there is no dedicated left turn light at this intersection. The city needs to implement better traffic signals. Drivers need to pay attention and communicate their intentions. Cyclists bear the burden of the danger as we have no exoskeleton.
your safety does not fall into someone else’s hands on our roads. if it does, you’re not going to be healthy and alive for very long.
http://bikeportland.org/2015/05/28/rider-gladstone-fatality-graduated-reed-college-last-week-143658#comment-6399592
It is very saddening to hear about this tragedy as many of us face near collisions every time we ride. As much as the car traffic improves with regard to awareness of cyclists, there is still a glaring disrespect for cyclists evident among a small percentage of drivers. Time for stiff fines and enforcement to increase the awareness and impose serious penalties for tHe failure to drive safely in the pressence of cyclists and other venerable users of the road
But it’s OK if they drive unsafely in the presence of other cars and trucks, right?
Stiff fines are already in place. Not to mention lawsuit awards.
Could you please save your comments for a different story? This is really not the appropriate place.
I will if you and Steve will.
Punishment doesn’t produce empathy.
I am currently riding across the country and from all the news from Portland while I have been gone, I am truly concerned about riding in our city when I return. This is such a horrible tragedy for our city.
Mark was a good friend and classmate of my daughter and I am heartsick for his family and friends. My sincere condolences to his family and the entire Reed community. We need to make the streets of Portland safer.
I feel for this young man and his Family. My question is when are motorists and bicyclist going to learn from these accidents and start to use the roads, safer.
I think the biking community can go along way towards making themselves safer by making themselves more visible. Motorcyclist are required to have a daylight head light. Why not the bicyclist. At the very least, a visible safety vest. The thing I see is that on these bright sunshine days, the bicyclist blend into the back round and it makes them harder to see.
Share the road and share the responsibility.
I think the most important thing to remember is just because you have the “right of way”, doesn’t mean you have the right of way. People make mistake every day when driving. It causes accidents. A 150lb human being on a 30lb bicycle does not stand a chance against a 3,300lb car, no matter who has the right of way.
Please, Please, Please, lets all learn something from tragedy and ride and drive as safe as we can.
“Taking a break” from bike commuting only puts more dangerous vehicles on the road. The solution is more people in cars biking, not adding to the problem by succumbing to fear. We as a community need to see this as yet another reason to only drive if absolutely 100% necessary, rather than as a reason to give up and add to the problem.
I could never speak for Mark, but if I’m ever killed by a car I hope everyone that I care about uses that as an excuse to give up 90% of their driving.
So tragic.
But I will never stop riding a bike, as that would give into fear and undo the hard work and advocacy that people like Mark have worked for.
I just want to thank the folks who put the ghost bike on the intersection.
This us our loss, all of us.
And please cease with the safety tips. Wrong thread.
What a truly tragic event for this young man and his family. He had his whole life ahead of him and it was brought tragically short. He sounds like he was a wonderful human being who truly gave back to society. Something needs to be done to protect Portland bikers. Although I am not a bike,r my son Alistair is the young man who lost is leg in a similar incident. When he heard about Mark’s death he said he was one of the lucky ones. He might be minus a leg, but he was one of the lucky ones. Our motto needs to be keep your eyes open and realize that we are sharing the roads. It is more important to arrive safely to your destination then to be on time….
Love to ride my bike in Portland but I will always give way to the crazy cars so I stay alive. Use the sidewalk for riding also, very few people use the sidewalks in this city and you will not be fined unless your down town. Make sure your looking up when you ride. You may have to raise you handle bars up, keep your eyes on the road at all times. Thank you!
No, please stay off the sidewalk. That’s all we need is a rash of pedestrians being creamed by cyclists.
T-Shirts?
The car driver gets a ticket and you get a coffin. Drive defensively
Interesting perspective from this PBOT page: http://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=28c26c3acc604f2cba87aff0fe7f7b24
A significantly larger number of motorists and pedestrians are killed on the streets of Portland, compared to cyclists.
For example 2013 fatalities:
Autos — 24
Peds — 11
Bikes — 1
Granted these are raw numbers, but still they seem to say, don’t get off your bike – GET ON!
And just what could of mark done here to protect himself short of never leaving his house. Why do you feel like its even needed to say outloud as if those of us who ride in this town dont understand the risks? Are you implying that the man who died didn’t understand those risks?
It just seems so shitty and pointless to say as if we are all just reckless children who need to be told that what we are doing is irresponsible and that we deserve what we get
Tragic. We need much stronger vulnerable road user laws. Now. Portland sends delegations to Europe to ooh and aah over the great infrastructure. What this can ignore is that places like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany have strong vulnerable road user laws. Drivers have much greater legal responsibility if they run someone over. There is not such an easy “I didn’t see them” excuse. So, “seeing” is a responsibility and “not seeing” is negligence. Not seeing and killing is serious negligence. The legal framework here should be that if you are driving too fast to see pedestrians or cyclists, and too fast to react – given lighting conditions, visual obstructions, whatever – you are being seriously negligent, given the life-and-death responsibilities of driving. Vulnerable road user laws – with teeth – should be the absolute top priority of ped/bike advocates. Sorry if this appears to be highjacking this thread – but we need be solutions to prevent more of this.
We also need basic enforcement of existing laws. Portland police waste resources targeting cyclists on designated bike routes in a misguided attempt to appease a few moneyed cycling opponents. These policies make the roads more dangerous for everyone by validating the beliefs of the rabid cars-first drivers. When was the last time you saw police targeting the distracted and reckless drivers that we contend with everyday or the drivers who speed and make dangerous passes on the same designated bike routes where cyclists are targeted?
An officer on a stepladder downtown with a pair of binoculars could identify hundreds of distracted drivers per hour. This kind of enforcement action would send the message that city officials actually care about road safety.
This is so awful. Every day I see how dangerous it is out there and so little is being done to address it. We need serious traffic enforcement in cases where life is at risk. We need simple design solutions. We need vehicles to slow down. Life is too precious to be lost so easily.
The one, tiny bright spot I have seen come out of this very dark time is that friends of mine (non-cyclists) are posting links to this story on their Facebook page and encouraging drivers to be careful out there. It’s a small shift, but a very positive one nonetheless.
Deepest condolence to the family whom I happened to know and it breaks my heart to see them grieve for the loss of their young son almost my own kids’ age. I feel the pain and even more so because this accident could have been avoided if proper road enforcement and road safety measures are enforced similar to where I live here in Western Australia where strict compliance is a must and the culture of safety is inculcated to all drivers right from day one when they apply for driving license until practical tests. Penalties and demerit points here are also very stringent.
In my 12 years of living here, I have yet to see a cyclist lost his life like Mark who was not only an accomplished cyclist but even runs his college’s bike co-op and have been guiding new cyclists how to get started with their cycling. Your city have to wake up and take action to avoid another death toll which is waiting to happened Again. Something has to be done quickly to address the safety of cyclist in your city or Mark’s death would have lost its meaning. I suggest a revision of road regulations without compromise to keep everyone safe on the road and to honor Mark Angeles whose life was lost because the city compromised on safety today.
Our prayers go to the Angeles family in this time of great loss. Hope you good people in Gladstone and the entire periphery area will take their safely seriously to the city’s authorities and make sure they’re not compromised before another loved one is lost.
Thank you and God bless, with love from Australia
My heart is breaking for Mark’s family, friends and our world. A young man with so much potential who was making the world a better place is gone far too soon. My deepest condolences to all.
Cervelo, I operate all my vehicles in a safe and legal manner. After my post, I was almost struck twice, by drivers performing illegal maneuvers.
That is what this is all about. Car vs car driving is aggressive enough and criminal in the presence of a cyclist. I also just avoided hitting a cyclist who blew a stop sign in the Pearl. Just because I am used to watching the road with cyclist’s eyes.