Man dies in collision with SUV in West Linn

eek, sounds like maybe brake failure… how long and steep is this hill?

I know that street. That hill is so damn steep, I’d be scared to walk down it. A bike could easily get to over 40 mph in a very short distance. Be careful out there.

Sorry…without noticing, scanned right over maus detailing of high rate of speed and not stopping for the stop sign.

One’s life is a steep payment for making a simple mistake. Safety first people.

My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragic loss.

You have excellent instincts Red Five…

re comment 9, how soon before some troll comes on and tries to turn this into a cyclists hate motorists thread?

I know this is not statistically significant but I have only personally seen onc brake failure in 20 years of mountain bike riding. It was a hydraulic disc front line that resulted in a crash on a downhill at the Syncline.

RIP Bike Friend.

I crashed like this as a kid, only it was a left turn, and I ran into the opposite curb and rolled off into a neighbor’s barkdust landscaping. Same mistake, much different results. This incident reminds us all of our vulnerability and the need to understand the limitations of our equipment and skills. Condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Hill.

I also want to add my condolences. This is a tragedy for everyone involved.

I agree with @17, rim brakes are limited in their power. You even see guys in TdeF wiping out because their plastic pads ‘cook off’.

KWW: You sure that’s why they wipe out? What’s your source? Having ridden lots of high-speed mountain passes (such as those in the Markleeville Death Ride for instance), I gotta say that doesn’t sound right. The pros likely would be braking *less* than my mortal 50-mph self, and I never even came close to cooking pads, rolling or blowing tires, etc. Now heavy ol’ *tandems* on mountain passes, that’s a different story…

It was a very unfortunate accident. There is no need to speculate on the condition of the victim’s bike or debate what braking systems work best.

Also, maintaining the same standard here as others have noted with coverage of other collisions: Was this sufficiently unforeseeable and unpreventable to be called an accident?

RIP

Be careful on the roads everyone.

Skidmark: Agreed, good rim brakes with Kool-Stop pads will get ‘er done—with maybe a heart-pounding moment now and then in the wet.

You sound like you’ve never tried a well adjusted disc brake with broken-in pads; the difference over rim brakes can be pretty profound. Yeah, they get wet too—but they have so much reserve power, it just doesn’t matter. You’re limited only by how well your tires can hold the wet road.

But that’s all I’ve got. RIP, Mr. Hill. Here’s hoping for no copycats.

jim,

what’s the purpose of your comment? Obviously it’s stupid to run a red light and put yourself and others in harm’s way.

I almost crashed the other day.

I was pulling up to a bike rack the other day and my left handlebar broke off. Good thing it didn’t happen earlier as I was riding up Williams with traffic on the left. I’d been riding hard on this bike for 7 years, it never occurred to me that the handlebars might fail.

It’s always good to do a thorough safety check on your bike once in a while, take the whole thing apart and look for stress cracks in bolts, frames, cranks. Frayed cables. Loose stuff.

And when anything is in poor condition and in need of repair, be aware of it and adjust to a more conservative riding style until you get it repaired.

I’m actually surprised that there aren’t more fatalities by equipment failure in Portland. It’s a testament to how much Portlanders love their bikes and tend to keep them beautifully maintained — 20,000 daily bicycle commuters in the summer, and zero fatalities because of equipment failure. It only takes one mistake to get yourself killed.

Be careful, folks. Look after yourself, look after your friends.

Ted Buehler

Taking that right turn off Pimlico onto Will Falls there– it’s a decreasing radius turn and if you take it too fast, you’ll overcook it and have to go wide into the traffic lane.

That’s a freakin’ steep hill, too, so it’d be easy to come to the T-intersection too fast, especially if you didn’t plan on stopping anyway and planned on making the right turn into the bike lane right there.

My condolences to his family.

Jonathon-
What is the point of your story? Is it that cyclists should not do stupid things? or maybe they should follow trafic laws? Do you have a specific message that you want to get out?

Jonathan-
Isn’t it also a purpose of this blog to increase bicycle safety? To learn from the combined experience of all the riders comenting? To broaden our perceptions. I know this is the most unfortunate experiance right here. Perhaps if any good can come from it- it would be what we discused right here and possibly save someone elses skin. Following the traffic rules, better braking systems, better judgement calls… I appreciate your dedication to improving cycling in Portland. Keep up the good work

Another note on safety. If the hill is as steep as some have stated here, then if I owned that home in the photo, I’d put up some kind of barrier to stop a runaway truck. Maybe buy an old dump truck and park it in front of the house, or in the drive way.

Might as well take action BEFORE another tragedy occurs. What a concept.

here’s the text of the comment that henry krinkle #49 is talking about…

comment from L_Loomis September 14, 2010 at 6:07AM

To the family:

This was a tragic accident and nobody was truly at fault. I was there, and it was the wrong place, wrong time, wrong conditions.

We were the first medical personell to arrive, and stopped moments after the accident occured. Though it may be painful to read some of this, if you wish to know our understanding of what occured, please read on. For the sake of decency and your feelings, I will limit what information I give in this public way.

What happened was that James was travelling down Pimlico and tried to merge onto southbound 43. Pimlico has smooth pavement, and 43 does, but there is a section of paving between the two roads that has the exposed smooth-stone aggregate caused by studded tires. This was the cause of his fall in my opinion. His bike derailluer in the front was on the large sproket, but also the large in the rear, meaning he was in a mid-range gearing as he began to go down the hill – but is not enough gearing to accelerate beyond gravity down the hill. He may have shifted prior to 43 as well, in anticipation of his course, but I do not believe this is the case as it appears he was downshifting to the middle front sproket as he merged onto 43. He had his helmet on, and it had stayed on through the impact.

I was able to inspect the scene moments after it occured, and the bicycle, and the pavement. It looks like as he leaned to travel from Pimlico to 43 his tires slipped out on the pavement worn to stones by car studded tires, and his bike went out from under him. I can see no other reason why he could not navigate the curve. He then was hit by a vehicle as he tumbled out of the bike lane. His bike was totally undamaged, and barely even scratched. It had not been hit. It seems had James stopped at the intersection, or the driver been a little more cautious and alert (I base this upon the location of impact as it was evident exactly where James was hit (only 3-4′ feet outside the bike lane) things might have been different. I am so sorry they were not.

My wife is a former ICU nurse, and has for years been the senior charge and code-response nurse on the post-surgical unit at the VA (a population with more serious issues than the general population, which lends a lot of experience). She attended to James almost immediately after the accident. She is one of the best people you could ever ask for in an emergency. After a few minutes, a retired neurologist also showed up on the scene – and someone we believe was another nurse arrived sometime later and helped as well. My wife continued to give orders about what other responders were to do, and also called out orders to be told to the 911 dispatcher for equipment needed.

Initially, as we made our U-turn and blocked that lane of traffic (multiple cars just drove past him – God forgive these people) I was alarmed to see how angry other drivers became that I had just blocked traffic. I was honked and shouted at. Officers later instructed me that I and parked the car properly and ordered me to leave it where it was until they had cordoned off traffic lanes.

My wife leapt out of the car and ran to where James was lying. There was a woman with him, talking to him. James had no clear pulse, but he was moving his arm, moaning, and his is pupils were responsive so it was thought there must be a weak one present. More cars stopped to help as traffic locked up and people began to notice him.
After a couple of minutes of CPR his pulse began to recover, after checking his wrist, neck, and groin. We felt he was coming around and there was a chance. James became a little more responsive and began to moan again. We tried to tell him how many important things he had worth living for, and why he needed to hold on. We told him what had happened, and that he was being cared for now. He moaned and murmered but I could not understand him. After over 200 compressions, another responder who had kneeled opposite my wife began to do compressions.

Shortly after that, the neurologist said his pupils dilated, he lost consciousness, and then we lost all pulse. He felt it was an aneurism from the impact.

I hope you understand that your husband, son, brother, or father, died in loving hands and to kind, gentle, and loving words. We did our very, very best, and are very deeply affected by his loss. Saving him was very personal to us, and my wife did everything in her ability and beyond to save him. She is also taking his death hard, and does when losing any patient.

James was obviously very healthy, happy, and young. His death is such a tragedy and a terrible twist of fortune. We are only sorry we were unable to do more. I hope you will forgive that we could not save him, but understand we did not only our best to help him, but to put him at peace as well.

If you would like to talk or would like to know everything, you may reach me at loomisd at- gmail dot com, however I will require proof of your identity before giving out any additional personal information. If you would like I will walk over the scene with you and show you.

To the replies:

Judging by the comments found after this article, there are many unkind people in this world who do not know what compassion is. I am sorry to see it. I am sure you are the same kind of people who drove past him, and judged the circumstances of the accident without knowing the truth of it. It was a great tragedy. There are details left out of this for the sake of the family, but know that I was there and you were not. I saw everything that needed to be seen, and while I cannot say the driver was at fault, neither can I really say James was. Were it not for the slick stones, he shouldn’t have had the least of problems merging. My grandfather died after being hit by a train as it crossed a rural forested road without crossing guards (you had to slow down and peek around the trees). It wasnt anybodys fault, it was a tragedy. This reminds me of that.

I think that brings it all into perspective…

a sad story for sure… no happy endings here…