Photo of the Week: An overturned 4×4 in Forest Park – UPDATED

Any idea what sort of car that is?

It looks like a sedan to me, and gives me bad flashbacks of taking my 85 Volvo camping.

Here’s my shot:

Forest Park: because sometimes dumping stolen cars in Brightwood is just too far to drive!

Aaron-
It is an early 90’s 4runner. You can tell by the wheels.

As a rule, I’m really impressed and grateful for the coverage on this site but I disapprove of this one. It looks to me like someone may have died in this crash. Shouldn’t we send our best wishes to the family?

The bicyclist-haters cannot win at any of the substantive arguments, so they feign outrage over stuff like this to distract from their ignorance.

I think a whole bunch of you need to take a chill pill and cut the editor some slack. I mean seriously, it’s sunny outside. What the heck are you doing on a computer unless you’re *looking* to cause trouble…

anon:
“For all we know someone was in the truck and had the most terrifying experience of their life.
Let’s mock it!
Perhaps they are a follower of BP, let’s help them relive it!
Poor taste. Plain and simple. Any other blog, maybe, but if you are championing the cyclist way of life and as high visiblity as BP, you need to have higher standards.
I’m sure the Oregonian will like this.”

Oh goodness, get the smelling salts! Listen, I come hear because Jonathan is a consumate professional and he does this very well. If you can do it better, why not try? As for this specific post, Jonathan owned up to it so why don’t you quit rending your garments?

As a 4 wheeler who has rolled(with a roll cage, mind you), low speed rollovers aren’t nearly as dangerous as high speed rollovers that occur at highway speeds. Those fatalities are usually a result of being ejected or having the roof crushed down from the immense energy dissipated during a high speed rollover. Even without a rollcage, a slow rollover such is likely from the photo, is unlikely to have caused the roof to collapse. A, B, and C pillars(the side sections of a car holding up the roof) are incredibly thick and designed to hold a vehicle’s overturned weight.

People laugh at bicycle crash videos on youtube. So what. Some people cry and some people laugh when they get hurt.

The picture is about an SUV(a hulking mass of gas guzzling metal) smack dab in the middle of Forest Park. Ever run across a Boeing 727 in the middle of a forest? I have.

Jonathan-
I did not imply, nor have I ever, that you do not own or drive a car. I know you do on both accounts.
Like I said, nevermind, the point was lost. I just look forward to the day when you post a bike that was destroyed in an accident and ask for “interesting” captions.

a.O. – Being disappointed at an attempt to make light of a car accident in no way distracts anyone from my ignorance. I am ignorant of many things, which is why I am still in school and plan to attend forever. I truly appreciate your opinion on many of the topics discussed on this sight; I feel you and I see eye to eye on many things (even though you have labeled me an ignorant bicyclist hater). However, if joking about a rollover makes one more worldly or knowledgeable, then I hope I never reach your level.

Sight = site; just another example of my ignorance, or fast typing and lack of proofreading. You decide.

JM-
By off-tone, I mean this is usually a pretty positive source for news, entertainment, and information related to bicycles. To open up a snapshot of what was likely someone’s worst day in a long time to a caption contest is insensitive, and does not help or inform the cycling community. Reverse the situation (bunch of drivers standing around looking at a mashed bike) and you’d be outraged. I’m not some kind of anti-bike nut, I don’t own or often use cars, but I think this sort of article is needlessly inflammatory. By all means, ignore me.

Jonathan,

This post is pretty damn inappropriate. It reminds me of the photo of the guy who hit a whole bunch of folks with his car wiith the “funny” caption that you’ll see on fark every once a while. A request for captions is basically a call for humorous posts, your removal of the word funny doesn’t really change the post’s intent.

Your site’s tagline is “to inform and inspire,” do you think this post measures up? This is old news, so there’s no journalistic value.

without pointing fingers can i say some folks just need to get over themselves… i have.

finding humor where least expected is’t always a bad thing. i have no idea if someone was in the vehicle but i certainly can’t see and evidence of anyone, rescue personel, jaws of life use, etc.. absolutely nothing like a pic of a car mowing down cyclists.

if you can’t laugh at yourself it’ll be even rougher when folks laugh at you. suck it up cheery-o’s

@ #5 KGB,

Bonus points if you know where the old Lincoln Continental rests.

It rests at the bottom of the gully at the intersection of FL5 and Leif.

I was riding FL5 the day this Toyota was flipped. It was kind of creepy especially since I was by myself.

If I remember correctly, the truck was stolen, flipped then abandoned on the trail. It serves the person right if they got banged up.

Jimmy @ 40:

FL 5? Was the Toyota on Saltzman and then flipped down onto FL 5?

Correct and correct. The outrage being expressed here is outrageously hilarious.

This truck is down a firelane. This isn’t an ACCIDENT it’s called a joyride and it is a criminal act. Oh boo hoo somebody stole a car turned down Saltzman road drove around the gate did a ton of damage to the park and then rolled over trying to turn around in a some crazy bender. That is who and what your defending.

And you compare this to a picture showing a drunk driver plowing through a peloton, people flying in the air. I’m sorry but that is what I find offensive here.
That is just ridiculous.

Thanks for sharing J.R.

That is way funny. 🙂

Why do car owners and the larger public believe that cyclists are a self-righteous group of douchebags that hate any form of transportation other than their beloved bikes?

Let’s collectively grow up! We are at a critical juncture in the acceptance of bicycles as transportation. Let’s rise above being snarky children for our own self amusement.

“I don’t know these folks, they don’t know me. I’m not happy for their demise, nor am I saddened by it. It really doesn’t have anything to do with me” … so he can joke about it.
Amazing statement. The defenders of the jokers are as immature and self-centered as the jokers themselves.

Dear G-d people, lighten up.
It isn’t like some grandma was driving down Germantown, had a heart attack, and plummeted off the edge of the road killing the baby kittens she had in her back seat.
Like Jimmy stated, this was a stolen vehicle that went around a gated fire road for a joy ride and eventually flipped on a tight banked corner.
I can maybe understand people being upset not knowing the circumstances of the crash. That being said, if you pay any attention to this site you would know that Jonathan has better taste than to post something like this if he knew someone was injured…
Relax people!

Want an inside scoop? I was there with Jonathan and other PUMP Board members: The organized ride included members of Portland Parks and Rec, PBOT, and City Commissioner staff members: Our goal? To highlight the construction technique we used when PUMP helped build the NEW lower end of Firelane 5, AND to show why some bicyclists LOVE to ride AWAY from traffic and cars. It’s quiet and safer!

Much to our surprise, when we arrived at the top of FL 5, there were cop cars and a wrecker. I asked WTFIGO? (nicely), and they explained it was a stolen vehicle, and someone had bashed THRU the locked gate at the top of the FL, and was taking it for a joyride.

The exact location is where the second of 2 overlooks had been made when the park was planned. Originally, the path may had been used for a driveway to a house, but had since been utilized as a scenic overlook. While FL 5 curves to the left and downhill at this point, the path the driver had taken veers off to the right and uphill, where it deadends. It appeared to me the driver attempted to back down the hill in reverse, and cut the wheel too soon at the bottom; the left wheels went into the drainage ditch there and the vehicle rolled.

No idea whatever happened to the driver and/or occupants, but there were various 40 ouncers littering the area from when it rolled.

As for the make, I think it was a Toyota SUV, and who knows, maybe the brakes failed and the accelerator got stuck! Awesome Japanese engineering, I guess.

sabes.. .depending on the context and the photo… yes, it might be funny!

58 – It’d be funny if it was a mountain bike!

and had no intentions at all of making light of this crash

That’s awfully disingenuous isn’t it Jonathan? The original version of this story included a request for a “funny caption.”

Here’s my contribution:

“Hang on, I saw this in a cartoon once”

I too have rolled an SUV (Suzuki Sidekick) off a forest road at slow speed. It was a nice sunny March day up on Mary’s Peak outside of Corvallis lo these many years ago. I drove over some ice and we slipped ever so gently off the road and rolled, slowly, 3 and a half times. A handy tree stopped us from rolling off a cliff.

Injuries: Slight soreness from the seatbelt. That’s it.

As SUV Whee pointed out up above, vehicles are built with strong A, B and C pillars for a reason. A slow roll won’t kill you unless you are hanging out the window at the time. A snap roll at freeway speeds– that’ll injure you if not kill you.

(For contrast: I’ve also rolled a caged car at a stage rally event. It was loud and not fun. No injuries there either except for soreness from the belts. Yes, I am a rally driver, and yes, I really enjoy riding bikes too. I knit as well, so stop pigeon-holing me.)

Horsepower corrupts!