Last night, 33-year old former NFL and University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington was hit and injured while riding his bike on SE Foster Road.
Portland Police say Harrington was riding westbound near SE 88th when he was struck from behind by 26-year old Derek Johnston, who was driving a small SUV. Harrington suffered non life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital.
The police cited Johnston for following too close.
Foster has no bike lanes at this location and the street is notorious for traffic crashes. Back in November, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and representatives from ODOT launched a “High Crash Corridor” traffic safety campaign just one mile east of where this crash occurred. At the press conference for that event, Adams said, “This street functions in many ways like a freeway, but it’s not.”
Unfortunately, for many people, major arterials like this continue to be treated like freeways and they continue to pile up victims. It will take much more than banners and underfunded “safety” campaigns to change that.