The block of SE Clinton wherethe road rage incident occurred.(Photo © J. Maus)

Back in 2007, we covered the story of Johnny Eschweiler, the man who intentionally used his car to strike two men on bikes in a road rage incident on SE Clinton Street.
Shortly after the incident, victim Ben Ramsdell told BikePortland that he had [...]

Through those doors, the laws are made.(Photos © J. Maus)

Tomorrow I’ll make my first trip down to Salem this session — and what a full day it’s shaping up to be.
My day will start with a meeting of the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC). The OTC is the five-person, governor-appointed cabinet that sets transportation policy [...]

Rep. Jim Oberstar, speakingat the opening night dinner.(Photo © J. Maus)

Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN) — the man whose passion for Safe Routes to Schools helped establish it as a national priority in America — is now throwing his energy behind a new idea. And, as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that [...]

Phil Sano outside the courtroom(Photo: Elly Blue)

It’s the third and final day of Phil Sano’s trial for resisting arrest. I’ve been in court all morning, taking notes — which are below — and now the jury is deliberating. There’s no telling when the decision will come.
Some background:
- Our coverage of the initial event
- Our [...]

Phil Sano and his lawyer John Gutbezahl faced Judge Youlee Yim You for day two of the trial.
(Photo © Elly Blue)

It’s day two of the Phil Sano Taser Trial and I’ve been in the courtroom since about 8:30am. Yesterday, I took notes using the email program on my phone and Jonathan was able to edit [...]

BikePortland managing editor Elly Blue is in the courtroom today for day one of the Phil Sano Trial.
Sano and his lawyer John Gutbezahl are at the Multnomah County Courthouse to fight charges of criminal resisting arrest brought against Sano by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office. The judge assigned to the case is Youlee [...]

Ellee Thalheimer is a new contributing writer to BikePortland. Her most recent story was a product review of women’s bike shorts designed for utility and fashion. Ellee is a yoga instructor and travel writer living in Southeast Portland. Check out her author page here.
We covered the beginnings of the Share the Road Safety Class; this [...]

“Dooring” someone on a bike now comes with a $100 fine in Massachusetts.(Photos © J. Maus)

Massachusetts is working overtime to become a bike-friendly state.
In Boston, they’ve gone from “Worst” to “Future Best” Bike City in Bicycling Magazine and former Olympian turned bike czar Nicole Freedman was recently named a “Bostonian of the Year” by the [...]

Here’s an interesting lawsuit filed by a Southeast Portland man. It was featured in a roundup of lawsuits published in The Oregonian yesterday:
A man bicycling through Southeast Portland is suing a pair of homeowners after he allegedly crashed into a mound of dirt placed on the side of the street.
Jeremy Hooten was pedaling along [...]

Christopher Heaps

The article below was written by Christopher Heaps. Heaps is a Sellwood resident who rides his bike daily to his job as a lawyer with Stoel Rives in downtown Portland.
You might remember Heaps as the lawyer who garnered a headline or two for successfully carrying out the “citizen-initiated citation” process. We wrote [...]

A DIY kid seat for a Kona Ute longtail bike. Photo taken in bike racks at Trillium Charter School on N. Interstate Ave.(Photos © J. Maus)

The Oregonian on July 15th, 2008.

KGW reports that James Millican, who ran down and then drove with Jason Rehnberg on his hood after Rehnberg (who was on his bike) told him to slow down, has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Along with jail, the 21-year-old Millican must do 160 hours of community service, pay [...]

Riding naked is a “well-establishedtradition”.(Photo © J. Maus)

The Oregonian reports that a Multnomah County Judge has thrown out indecent exposure charges in a naked biking case because he feels that it’s a, “‘well-established tradition’ in Portland and understood as a form of ’symbolic protest.’”
Here’s a snip from the Oregonian’s story:
Judge Jerome LaBarre said the city’s [...]

Robert Pickett(Photos � J. Maus)

Robert Pickett is a member of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee, an Alice Award nominee, a regular commenter and contributor to the Forums here on BikePortland.org, and he’s also a police officer in Portland’s Southeast Precinct.
When he’s not working in our community, he likes to ride tall bikes.
In the article below, [...]

Deputy DA Chuck Sparks.(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

The Deputy District Attorney for Multnomah County Chuck Sparks wants the community to know that upon further analysis, his office believes the injuries sustained by Steven Volz in a collision on July 31st in Gresham constitute “serious physical injury”.
In a story posted on September 4th, I reported that Gresham [...]

“We couldn’t support the mental state required for a criminal prosecution.” – Gresham DA Ben O’Glasser on his decision to not seek a Reckless Driving charge against Lance Waddy

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has elected not to proceed with a Reckless Driving charge against Lance Waddy, the man who let his car veer into [...]

Lawyer Ray Thomas during a press conference earlier this month.(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland lawyer Ray Thomas has released a do-it-yourself toolkit of resources and case studies meant to help anyone who seeks to bring violators of traffic laws to justice.
The process, known as a “citizen initiation of violation proceedings,” is based on an Oregon law [...]

“Everything riders do to be safe makes it easier for attorneys to protect their rights against insurance companies and in court.”–Lawyer Scott Kocher

As part of their Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program, the Oregon State Bar is offering a seminar titled, Bicycle Law and Injury Prevention for Advocates and Riders.
The seminar will be offered at [...]

“Tim and I would have been married 50 years this April but I celebrated this anniversary
by myself because a dangerous driver ran him down on his bike.” – Mary O’Donnell

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) announced yesterday that they will pursue a vehicular homicide law in the 2009 session of the Oregon State Legislature.
They plan to [...]

[Note: I've updated the post (at 3:45pm) to include a response from the Deputy City Attorney.]

The denial.Click to enlarge, (240k, jpg)

The Records Division of the Portland Police Bureau has denied a request for information made by lawyer Christopher Heaps in an ongoing effort to utilize an Oregon statute to file “citizen initiated citations,” in a [...]

A trail to nowhere, for now.(Photo © J. Maus)

The BTA reports great news in the ongoing saga of SK Northwest and their battle against building a key piece of trail across their property on the Willamette Riverfront just south of OMSI.
The BTA’s Michelle Poyourow writes on their blog that the Oregon Court of Appeals has [...]

(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

The city of Vancouver, Washington is considering adoption of a new ordinance that would require the use of helmets by anyone under the age of 18.
The new ordinance is set to go before the Vancouver City Council on Monday, January 14 at 6:00 p.m.
Vancouver is currently one of just a few cities [...]

Christopher Heaps

The article below was written by Christopher Heaps. Heaps is a lawyer with Stoel Rives who has volunteered to carry out the “citizen-initiated citation” process (as outlined in ORS 153.058) to retroactively cite Lisa Wheeler (the woman who hit Siobhan Doyle at N. Interstate and Greeley back in October) for “failure to yield”.
The [...]

Lawyer Christopher Heaps.(Photos © Jonathan Maus)

Christopher Heaps, the Portland attorney who’s leading an effort to bring a motor vehicle driver to justice for failing to yield to a bicycle in a bike lane, plans to file the formal citation at the Multnomah County Courthouse tomorrow.
Heaps has completed an Oregon Uniform Citation and Complaint (a.k.a. a [...]

[Updated: 11/3, 10:05pm]
As reported by Emily Gardner of the BTA on Friday, SK Northwest has filed an appeal with the Oregon Court of Appeals.
It seems SK Northwest, who wants to develop a riverfront parcel for their personal watercraft business, can’t accept a recent Land Use Board of Appeals opinion that the city’s demand for [...]

A couple crosses at NW 9th and Lovejoy.(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

Local lawyer Ray Thomas, a tireless defender of bicyclist’s rights who most recently spoke at the We are All Traffic press conference, has released a new book to help educate that other group of vulnerable roadway users: pedestrians.
Oregon Pedestrian Rights is billed as a “legal [...]

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), which has “exclusive jurisdiction to review all governmental land use decisions”, has issued an opinion on the SK Northwest case.
Their decision (dated November 8th) to “remand” the case means it will now be sent back to the City of Portland for further review.
(You can view [...]

Lawyer Bob Mionske

Portland-based lawyer Bob Mionske, a former Olympian who writes a monthly legal column for VeloNews Magazine, has added yet another voice of concern over what he sees as a bias against bicyclists at the Portland Police Bureau.
In his most recent VeloNews column, A fatal bias?, Mionske goes in-depth on four cases that he [...]

[NOTE: Please scroll to end of story for an important note.]

“We made the best we could out of this situation.”–Multnomah County DA Jim Hayden

The two women involved in the fatal hit-and-run that killed Jerry Hinatsu earlier this year will receive a fine, probation and two-months in jail.
After Hinatsu collided with their vehicle, both women then [...]

One of the major questions the community is grappling with after the deaths of both Tracey Sparling and Brett Jarolimek is; why were the truck drivers not given a citation for failure to yield to a bicycle in a bike lane?
The law (ORS 811.050) seems clear:
“A person commits the offense of failure of a motor [...]