Ryan Gaughan at Rickson's ghost
bike on May 18th, 2012.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

This coming Thursday will mark one year since the tragic death of 28 year-old Kathryn Rickson. On the night of May 16th, Rickson was riding downhill on SW Madison Ave just one block from City Hall when a man driving a large delivery truck turned right onto SW 3rd and the two vehicles collided.

Now Rickson's friends and family have planned a memorial event to remember her. I asked Ryan to share a few thoughts about Kathryn, the collision, and this past year... (more...)

BTA: "It's time to act."

With the DA's decision today to not pursue criminal charges against the man operating the truck in the collision that claimed the life of Kathryn Rickson, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance says, "It's time to act."

In a blog post this afternoon, the BTA is renewing a push for a list of specific changes they called for immediately following the tragedy last May. "The investigation is complete," they write, "It is time to implement some changes."

The list of safety measures they are demanding is below: (more...)

(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Multnomah County District Attorney's office released a memo (PDF) today on their investigation into the death of Kathryn Rickson. They have determined that the state cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the man driving the semi-trailer truck, Dawayne Eacret, could have seen Rickson prior to the collision at SW 3rd and Madison and therefore he cannot be held criminally liable for hitting her.

Rickson suffered fatal injuries in the collision on the evening of May 16th, 2012. Eacret was in the process of turning right (south) onto SW 3rd from Madison when Rickson became pinned under the truck's right front fender. She was transported to OHSU but died shortly after arrival.

The focus of the DA's decision boiled down to whether or not Eacret could have seen Rickson, either on the road prior to the intersection or in his rear-view mirror prior to making his right turn. The case was investigated by Officer Pete Kurronen of the Portland Police Bureau and the lead DA was Deputy DA Glen Banfield. In addition to a detailed investigation of the vehicles and the roadway, they used three main witnesses in the case; the truck's passenger and two people in a car that was following directly behind the truck when the collision happened.
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Former chair of the Portland Freight
Committee, Corky Collier.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Not surprisingly, the death of Kathryn Rickson while she rode in a bike lane just one block from Portland City Hall has got a lot of people talking. Apart from the grieving we do as a community when something like this happens, many people are turning their feelings toward finding a solution to the problems they feel might have led to the collision.

Two major strains of discussion have emerged: large trucks and the safety issues they pose in tight, urban environments; and how we design bicycle access into our roads. Today I want to focus on the issue of truck safety (I am not dismissing the bikeway design issue; but it's worth noting that we covered that at length following a similar fatality back in October 2007).

To get a better understanding about freight movement and truck safety downtown, I got in touch with Corky Collier. Collier is the former chair of the Portland Freight Committee, which is an advisory group to the Bureau of Transportation (think of it as the Bicycle Advisory Committee, but for freight). Collier is also the executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association, a non-profit business association that represents industries along the Columbia River. (more...)

A photo of Kathryn at a makeshift
memorial on the corner of
SW 3rd and Madison.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Friends of Kathryn Rickson, the young woman who was killed while bicycling on SW 3rd and Madison last week, have launched a fundraising effort.

One of Kathryn's friends got in touch with me to share that a page has been created on ChipIn.com to handle the donations. So far, $545 has been raised. Kathryn was a student at Portland State University who was working odd jobs. Her partner, Ryan Gaughan, recently lost his job at New Seasons Market. Ryan also has a seven-year old daughter named Madeline. (more...)

The corner of SW 3rd and Madison filled with people who came together to remember Wednesday's tragedy.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

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The BTA wants to make guards like these (installed on
Water Bureau trucks in 2008 in response to
a fatal collision) mandatory.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland

With the death of Kathryn Rickson still fresh on the minds of many (the community will gather at the intersection tonight at 5:30 pm), there is already a strong chorus calling for safety measures to make it less likely this will ever happen again. Citizen activists and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance are calling on the City of Portland to take action.

It's important to remember that these reactions are coming swiftly, not just because of what happened to Kathryn Rickson. Right-hook collisions are in the headlines here on BikePortland far too often it seems. And while most of the ones we report on do not result in fatalities, many of us remember ones that did. Tracey Sparling died from a right turning large truck. So did Brett Jarolimek. Those two fatal collisions happened less than two weeks apart back in October 2007 and their impact is still felt today.

One of Brett's friends co-workers, Kris Schamp, wrote about that in an email to me today. Schamp shared his feelings and his concerns about the road design at SW 3rd and Madison: (more...)

(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland Mayor Sam Adams just issued a statement about last night's fatal collision on SW 3rd and Madison.

Adams' office has posted the statement on his blog, under the headline: Statement from Mayor Sam Adams on Bicycle Accident at SW 3rd and Madison. Here it is:

Last night, a terrible tragedy occurred downtown: a bicyclist was struck by a motor vehicle and killed. My condolences go out to this young woman’s family and friends; I am deeply sorry for the anguish they are going through. This incident hit me particularly hard given my commitment as mayor to making our city’s streets safer for all users. While we’ve made great strides, losing even one life is too many. This incident is still under investigation and the Portland Police Bureau will work with the District Attorney’s Office to determine appropriate action.

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Kathryn Rickson on May 3rd.
(Photo: Facebook profile)

Tomorrow night the community will gather at the corner of SW 3rd and Madison in downtown Portland to remember Kathyrn Rickson. Kathryn is the 28-year-old Southeast Portland resident who died late last night from injuries sustained in a collision with a truck while bicycling through that intersection.

Every time someone dies while riding a bike, it hits all of us very hard. When it happens on a section of bike lane that many of us here in Portland have ridden on hundreds of times, we feel it even more deeply.

Let's come together as a community tomorrow night and remember this tragedy. Let's show Portland that there are many people who care deeply about traffic safety and that every life lost on our roads is one too many.

The BTA and Swanson Thomas, Coon & Newton will host sign-making from 3:00 to 5:00 at their offices on SW 2nd (820 SW 2nd Ave, just a few blocks away). We will assemble between 5:15 and 5:30 pm at 3rd and Madison. Please consider being there. Thank you.

UPDATE: Mayor Sam Adams says he plans to attend this event.

NOTE: I have closed comments on this post because I didn't like the back-and-forth that was happening. This is a sensitive time and a sensitive post. Thanks for understanding. — JM

Emergency crews at work.
(Photo: JoniPhoto.com)

The Portland Police Bureau have just released information about a very serious collision that happened downtown less than one hour ago.

It occurred at the intersection of SW 3rd and Madison at around 8:30 pm tonight. Police say it appears that the woman — now identified as 28-year-old Kathryn Leah Rickson — was riding her bike eastbound on Madison and the truck was attempting to make a right-hand turn from Madison onto SW 3rd. There is a green colored bike box and a bike lane at this location (as seen in the photo at right). It might also be worth noting that this intersection is just one block from City Hall and Madison is on a slight decline at this location.

The police say the woman's injuries "may be life threatening" have confirmed that the woman died last night. (more...)