Caught on Video

[setha]

From the youtube video description at http://youtu.be/yQ7ihErCt-w:

Helmet cam video, about 3PM, 11/25/2012, SW Murray Blvd. northbound, north of the intersection with SW Maverick Terrace, going up the hill. I'm in the bike lane. It's a bright sunny day.

A dark blue 4 door sedan passes me. It felt very close due to the change in air pressure as he passed. As you can see, his right wheels are over the bike lane marking. Alas, reflection from the sun made his plate illegible.

I think that it is reasonable to ask that a driver keep his car in his lane.

Here's a still picture from the video:

[setha]

From the description on the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt4cyH7eDWI&list=UL :

11/30/2012, about 6:50PM, westbound bike lane on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, by the Courtside Apartments, 5817 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Portland, Oregon, USA.

Fortunately I saw the white Firebird coming out of the driveway from the Courtside Apartments and I was able to slow down. I don't like to think what would have happened if it had been a darker colored Firebird, or if I had been there a few seconds sooner.

It was drizzling tonight so the camera lens was not able to focus on his license plate. I went over the video frame by frame, but the best I could make out was the Firebird logo on the rear spoiler.

You do hear me yell "Car on the right!" Why yell that? Because

(a) it's obvious. It's a car. It's on my right. It's also not insulting, so the driver and the people watching the video on youtube can't accuse me of trying to inflame an already tense situation

(b) it makes the driver think I'm warning the other people I'm riding with about this car ahead. Those other people are potential witnesses. No, in this case those other people don't exist, but it'll take the driver a second or two to figure that out.

You also hear me tell him to go ahead. He's already just demonstrated that he is not that good of a driver, or he would have stopped before the bike lane. I'm not about to trust his poor driving skills and try to pass in front of him. He further demonstrates his poor driving by peeling out.

Here is a still photo from the video:

[Simple Nature]

You really know how to pick em, setha

I had someone pass me and proceed to do the right hook into Barnes & Noble the other day. Somehow I just knew and just shook my head.

This is a dangerous time of year around malls. I do wear a superbright flashlight on my helmet so I can pre-warn drivers coming from sidestreets just by looking right at them. I get very favorable response up to and including smoke from the locked up tires.

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by setha

From the description on the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt4cyH7eDWI&list=UL

auto-playlist alert!

guess you could revisit the apartments to see if that car returned and then get the plate #...

they also violated the law of stopping before crossing the sidewalk... if you hadn't been there they wouldn't even have stopped at all... if they had stopped before the crosswalk like they were legally obligated then they probably would have seen you and not blocked your path...

[setha]

12/30/2012, about 4:45PM. Hall and 5th, Beaverton, Oregon, USA. I'm going northbound on Hall. I am about to make a right turn to go eastbound on 5th. Hall at this point is one way, northbound. I encountered a southbound skateboarder, crossing against the traffic light, against traffic, in the right turn lane. I'm in the right turn lane and I'm not in the bike lane at this point because I'm about to make a right turn. We missed each other. I didn't say anything to him because what I would have said I don't think I wanted to have recorded.

I am not a lawyer. The skateboarder was in compliance with Oregon Revised Statutes 814.600; he was wearing a helmet. I don't know whether or not skateboarders are required by law to travel with traffic in Oregon. I did not see anything in the ORS specifically says so one way or the other. Anybody know?

Here's some stills:




And, here's a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/6wr2sW_fopo

[wsbob]

The law's recognition of skateboards as a legit mode of travel may be rare. Didn't check, but don't think state law has anything. Locally, Portland has an ordinance allowing use of skateboards on that city's streets. Some 15 years ago when the ordinance was proposed and adopted, the concept was very controversial. Read about it in this old Ray Thomas-Swanson, Thomas, Coon article:

SKATEBOARDERS AND ROLLERBLADERS GRANTED SAME LEGAL STATUS AS BICYCLISTS IN PORTLAND

Seeing as how your question asks about status of skateboards with respect to their use of the streets in Beaverton, I'll refer to what reference to them there exists in the Beav's city ordinances. Beaverton city ordinances say the following:

"...6.02.230 Rollerskates, Sleds, etc.

No person shall:

A. Use the streets for traveling on skis, toboggans, sleds, or similar devices, except where authorized.

B. Use rollerskates or skateboards on sidewalks in the business district or on any street, except as authorized or except to cross at a crosswalk. ..." Beaverton uniform traffic ordinances

So generally, use of skateboards on Beaverton streets downtown, isn't legal. Is 5th St in Beaverton's scattered, bi-sected commercial areas actually, 'downtown'? I suppose so, but it's kind of hard to tell what is and what isn't 'downtown' in Beaverton, unless there's an officially designated 'downtown' district I've not yet become aware of, apart from the neighborhood designations. 5th shown in the picture is actually in 'Central Beaverton', which covers other neighborhoods as well. Not that anybody riding a skateboard in Beaverton would have any particular reason to imagine they aren't allowed to ride streets and sidewalks in Beaverton. Quite a number of people ride skateboards on the Beav's sidewalks and streets. Fortunately, they don't much seem to be on the big, dangerous thoroughfares, Canyon and Beav/Hillsdale, Cedar Hills Blvd. They're in use on neighborhood streets and sidewalks though.

People obviously are using skateboards for transportation in Beaverton, so the city probably would be smart to recognize the boards as legit transportation in a way that would better, encourage people using them on the streets and sidewalks to do so through basic observance of basic traffic laws.

That section of Hall you were on can at times, allow bike traffic to roll at a very fast clip. Folks riding or skating counter-flow in the bike lane is potentially quite a bad situation.

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by wsbob

No person shall:

A. Use the streets for traveling on skis, toboggans, sleds, or similar devices, except where authorized.

B. Use rollerskates or skateboards on sidewalks in the business district or on any street, except as authorized or except to cross at a crosswalk.

it looks like part B is specifying two places that you can't ride a skateboard in Beaverton:
1) on sidewalks in the business district
2) any street (except the crosswalk part of the street)

[wsbob]

^ I don't know that the city ordinance makes a distinction, allowing skateboard riders to skate across the street in the crosswalk section of the street, where elsewhere, skateboard use on street and sidewalks is excluded, but to me, to have such an exception would be too complex for most people to remember.

Based on examples I've seen in Beaverton, skateboard use on streets and sidewalks isn't a big deal, when people boarding use their heads, at least a little. I would say the skateboarder in Seth's picture, on a basic level, is imposing unnecessarily on other road users. Even with the picture being rather blurry, it's a fair guess that this particular guy is old enough to know better.