According to a 2008 report by Alta Planning, bike crashes on streetcar tracks are a “major and underreported problem for Portland-area bicyclists.” Even so, the issue struggles to gain official attention because the vast majority of crashes do not get reported.
Portland-based, grassroots transportation advocacy group Active Right of Way (AROW) hopes to change that with their new, online Streetcar Crash Reporting form.
AROW volunteer (the group has no paid staff) Steve Bozzone was at our Get Together Wednesday night and shared a bit more about the project. Bozzone said the crash form is a “citizen’s reporting mechanism” that’s part of a campaign they launched back in December to fix existing bike/streetcar safety issues that exist with the new Eastside Streetcar Loop project (more on that effort later).
“Most crashes when a car is not involved don’t get reported, they don’t go into any dataset [the DMV only processes reports that involve a motor vehicle and where the amount of damage is valued at more than $1,500]. So we are trying to collect that information so we can present it in an organized way and show a compelling need for addressing these safety issues.”
If you’ve crashed on streetcar tracks, help AROW keep track by visiting their website and filling out the form.