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Two types of police response to O’Donnell tragedy

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The fatal crash that took the life of Timothy O’Donnell seems to have resulted in two different responses by law enforcement personnel. The Washington County Sheriff’s office shows a willingness to work with the community for tougher laws against motorists, while the North Plains Police opt for increased enforcement directed at bicyclists.

A story in the Forest Grove News-Times earlier this week reported that Sheriff Rob Gordon was “steamed” by O’Donnell’s death. The article said the police see “eye-to-eye” with cyclists and that they support a tougher, felony-based vehicular homicide law.

The story also mentioned that a sheriff’s spokesman joined Washington County transportation officials and the district attorney’s office in a meeting to discuss the incident two weeks ago.

The other response seems to be increased enforcement of stop signs in the area near where the O’Donnell tragedy took place. Cyclists have recently chimed in on a local email list with accounts of $335 tickets and lectures by police.

Here’s one of the emails:

Part of a group I was riding with yesterday was ticketed $335 apiece for rolling though the stop signs at the intersection of North Plains Rd and Glencoe. The officer indicated that the north plains PD has stepped up ticketing cyclists in the area since the rider was killed a few weeks ago.

And another (from the same group of riders, full message here):

“I was part of a three man group who also got $335 tickets…My point is not to argue the technicality of my “stop” or lack there of, but the reasonableness of the fine and strange view that this will help contribute to reducing the bicycle/car fatalities in Washington County…

We were told during our stop before getting tickets, that there had been a lot of bicycle/vehicle fatalities out in this area and a lot of bicyclist activists groups and bicyclists have been complaining that cars need to share the road…And, that if we want to be equal we are going to have to find a better way. Independently, these statements have validity. But how are they appropriate to our infraction? It was like this was a plain and simple message. Equal meant a new heightened attention to bicyclist traffic infractions and much steeper fines.

During the rest of our ride to the coast we discussed amongst ourselves the $1005 in fines we were levied with compared to the $1100 in fines levied against the driver who hit and killed the cyclist recently…It truly is a strange world sometimes….It turns out to have been an expensive lesson in traffic regulations, politics, and that the divide between many drivers and cyclists looks to be a tough bridge for either side to make anytime soon.”

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