On August 17th of last year, 41-year-old Joe Bennett was riding his bike south on N. Vancouver Ave when he was involved in a collision with a Lexus SUV driven by 37-year-old Faith Galderisi. Prior to the collision, Ms. Galderisi was stopped at Vancouver, facing westbound on N. Graham. According to police, she thought the intersection was clear and pulled across Vancouver but “didn’t see the bicyclist” coming south to her right.
“On field visits, PBOT traffic engineers observed people on bikes disregarding pedestrians’ right of away.”
— Dan Anderson, PBOT
Bennett “had no time to stop” says the police report, and he flew over the hood of Galderisi’s SUV, injuring his left elbow, wrists, lower back and knees.
The police cited Galderisi for “Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device.”
This intersection, which is right in front of Legacy Emanuel Hospital, has seen several similar collisions. PBOT has recorded four of them since 2008. Concerned about people bicycling and about their patients crossing the street, Legacy asked PBOT to do something about it. When City engineers conducted field observations, they noticed the collision potential — and they also “observed people on bikes disregarding pedestrians’ right of way,” says City spokesman Dan Anderson.
Anderson says PBOT engineers put together a diagram to illustrate the problem…
Yesterday, PBOT unveiled new pavement markings aimed at reducing conflicts and making the intersection safer for everyone.
The markings consist of words in the bike lane that read “Stop Here for Peds” and a new block of green color through the Graham intersection. According to PBOT, total cost was $2,200.
Have you noticed the markings? (They’re sort of hard to miss!)