bike can be seen in the upper right.
65-year old Camas, Washington resident Steven Dayley was bicycling along the same route as the Reach the Beach ride on Saturday when he was struck from behind by a man driving a pickup. Dayley died from his injuries later that night at Salem Memorial Hospital.
The collision occurred on Highway 18, a few miles east of Grande Ronde, just outside the Fort Hill Restaurant (Google Map link).
While there were hundreds of people on the road in that area due to the Reach the Beach ride, both ride organizers and the Oregon State Police report that Dayley was not an official registrant.
The collision occurred at around 2:30 pm on Saturday. The OSP say that Dayley was riding westbound on the shoulder of the highway, “in a congested area” when the pickup, driven by 24-year-old Fred Moore from Battleground, Washington, “veered right to avoid traffic ahead and struck the bicycle.”
Reach the Beach is a large annual fundraising ride with an estimated 3,000 participants. There are four different starting points: Portland, Amity, Newberg, and Grande Ronde.
Commenters on a local news website are speaking out about the riding conditions on Highway 18; which in this location is one standard vehicle lane and one wide shoulder. “Hwy 18 is not a very good place for a cycle event… They need to rethink these things,” one person said. Another commenter pointed out that, “In no way was this the cyclist at fault.The car driver went on the the shoulder and hit the cyclist… Remember he is a real person, not just a statistic. And look out for me (and everyone else) because I am out there on my bike.”
Dayley had been diagnosed with brain cancer and, according to reports, loved cycling as therapy. A friend of Dayley’s WillB left a comment below:
“Steve was a good man and a dear friend. It broke my heart to hear of his passing. I think it would be worthwhile to note here that he did not die of brain cancer like everyone who knew him thought he would. Rather, he was able to prepare for his end of life well in advance and enjoy what precious time he had left out on his bike. Not everyone can be so lucky. He knew his time was limited. His family knew it too. He loved riding. Rest in peace Steve.”
Dayley is the 99th person to die on Oregon roads so far this year.
Thanks for reading.
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I heard the driver was not charged. Is this true?
they never charge people right away… charges come after they sort things out…
but it seems like he’s going to get a ticket for following to close (why else would he swerve?), driving on the shoulder, and hopefully charged with manslaughter…
Nothing about “veer[ing] right to avoid traffic” sounds the least bit legitimate, yet commenters on a “local news website” don’t seem to see anything bizarre about blaming the cyclist anyway–just for being there.
Totally an assumption, but likely someone was turning left and he veered into the shoulder to pass on the right. Not saying it made the action smart or correct, but I don’t think there’s a conspiracy here.
It was a straightaway on the highway – no place to turn left. Two lanes had just merged together and the driver “veered to the right” onto the shoulder to get around the person who was merging in front of him. Unjustifiable any way you slice it.
I’m not suggesting the driver had any intention to run over a cyclist (conspiracy); I am saying that had the driver been following good driving practice, there would have been no conceivable “need” to “veer” around “traffic”.
The only conspiracy is among media outlet commenters to make sure the cyclist gets blamed for getting himself run over.
I was about 10 minutes behind Steven on Saturday and arrived on the scene of the collision while paramedics were doing their best to save his life.
This tragedy was so avoidable, and by that I don’t mean the chosen route is to blame. I mean that people driving automobiles need to BE PATIENT and not DRIVE IN THE SHOULDER because they are trying to get around traffic!
The highway has a very wide shoulder in that spot and there is no reason why it’s unfit for cycling.
I was also shaken by the utter lack of compassion exhibited by motorists who were INCONVENIENCED by the situation. Many thanks go out to Bill who was one of the motorcycle riding event support crew for putting one such motorist in his place.
My deepest sympathies go out to Steven’s loved ones, as well as to the 24 year old driver who will have to live with the weight of his decisions.
My condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Dayley.
As a driver and a cyclist, I am conscious that if I have to choose “to avoid [car] traffic” or somebody not inside of a steel box, I’d rather go head-on with the cars.
It is interesting that you mention “Dayley is the 99th person to die on Oregon roads so far this year.”
***Of those 99 people, how many did not involve a motor vehicle?
At this rate, there will be well more than 200 by the end of the year. How many people “die on Oregon roads” in a normal year?
Chris,
About 320 or so people are killed on Oregon roads each year.
I don’t know the exact amount that involve an automobile, but I was venture to say well over 90% of them. I bet there are a handful of motorcycle riders who lose control of their bikes and end up not surviving.
that’s not the only way a motorcycle rider can get killed on the road… we’re just about as vulnerable as a person on a bicycle… we just have a stronger helmet…
Most motorcycle accidents involve a car. And most motorcycle accidents involve alcohol.
RIP Steven
His family and friends are in my Prayers.
ODOT’s online crash data:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TDATA/car/CAR_Publications.shtml
Let me get this straight??!!??, A twenty four year old dodged a vehicle coming AT him in HIS lane, OR he was passing on the right of slower traffic that was an impedance to his progress on the road? Please do NOT tell me this ding dong just went around a turning vehicle or something like that. Also do not tell me that this road is unfit for cycling… Oh hell, I think i will just stop typing now. ARRRGG!!! So can someone describe the scenario in a bit more detail, cause I am not quite getting the visual…
….or he looked up from his cell phone to see traffic stopped in his lane with too little time to stop and swerved onto shoulder to avoid a rear ending. (Conjecture.)
This is a divided highway with a large concrete barrier separating east-and west-bound traffics. The driver was going west in a part of the highway where there’s one lane of traffic and a large shoulder on the right. The shoulder there is large enough to fit a car.
He would have swerved to the right around a car traveling in the same direction as him, and not because there was a car coming at him (because that car would have been traveling in the wrong direction).
This is speculation, but it could be that cars were slowing down in front of the driver and he didn’t notice in time enough to slow down, and so he swerved into the shoulder.
Even in the your scenerio, the driver would have been negligent for failing to notice that traffic in front of him was slowing until it was too late. Way too many drivers fail to keep track of what’s going on just a few seconds ahead, and then find themselves needing to do things like swerve onto the shoulder to avoid a collision.
It is really frustrating to see crashes like this and like the one that killed Ms. Rickson and not immediately hear that the driver was cited, just that they are under investigation. Of course they should investigate and decide what to ultimately do, but it seems fairly clear from the descriptions of the crashes that the people riding were proceeding normally and expecting other road users to behave legally, and that the drivers, however well- or ill-intentioned, violated the law and should be promptly cited at a minimum.
I hear you Alexis; but like it or not, enforcement agencies seem loathe to issue citations, especially in fatal collisions, because the feeling is that the cases will likely go to a District Attorney and the citation could muddle up the case because it will insinuate fault on the party who receives it.
Does that behavior seem to be the same when it involves only motor vehicles? Not trying to bait, just curious. I am sure you have reported this enough to have a good perspective on it.
I was up the road already when this happened. That part of the Highway always scares me due to the speeding traffic- No law enforcement slowing them down as they ignore the “Thousand Of Bicyclist on Roadway” signs. The Police were outside Sherridon Harrasing Cyclist at a stop sign. This stretch of road has had some tractor tread groves embeded for years and never repaired which forces you to ride on the shoulder close to traffic and in traffic at a few places. It is a sad thing when this happens, it could have been any of us that day, my condolences to Family and Friends of Steven Dailey I am truly sorry.
Those are rumble strips. They are there on purpose.
Is it safe to assume the driver was charged with reckless driving and manslaugher or perhaps murder?
Check his cell phone records
As a helmet camera wearing rider, i can tell you that just having one on (not even necessarily actively recording) …keeps aggressive drivers in check. If they think they are being filmed, and they act responsibly. Consider a suggestion of mandating/requesting cyclists have on-board cameras for this type of ‘black box’ situation, where an unbiased witnessing of an event can occur….from the rear would need an additional camera, though. Or a helmet mounted 360 degree set-up. If drivers had dash cams mandated in this same way, it would probably force more auto users to respect rules of the road and common decency in general as well. In an age where no public urban area is not in a camera’s eye at some time or another…try and make some sane use of “big brother”?
Unfortunately, industry thrives on rule-breaking. Think of all the money from insurance companies, jobs from law enforcement, and time from soccer moms that would be lost if people were accountable for their actions. Capitalism mandates that we have no real rules so long as we can ascribe a monetary value to our negative actions.
I would like to think that a video of collisions like this one would help bring justice to the victims of these CRIMES. It is, after all, WELL-KNOWN to all drivers (especially those straddling a bike parade or other event) that a vehicle is just a poor DECISION away from ruining the lives of the victims and their loved ones.
I also wear a helmet camera a lot, and share your sentiment. People give me a wider berth when I wear it, but I still have a large collection of dangerous drivers on video. There should be a website for posting such videos.
Does anyone know if video footage is useful in prosecuting dangerous drivers for behavior such as running stop signs/red lights, failure to yield, etc. (not just collisions), so that we may help prevent these tragedies?
“There should be a website for posting such videos.”
It’s called YouTube.
Thats what I heard too, if so what is going on?
Right. The man driving the pickup has not been given a citation. This is just how the OSP rolls. They are still doing the investigation and before it’s done, they won’t issue a citation…. even when, like in this case, it seems very cut and dry that a traffic violation occurred. Stay tuned. I’ll follow up when I know more.
Drivers need to be held Responsible! go into the sholder and kill a person, take lic away for life!
I’d put in a caveat to that. Cause a driver to go into the shoulder by negligence and kill a person, take license away for life. I’m sure there have been cases of people trying to avoid a head on collision with wrong way traffic that have resulted bystander fatalities.
I find that one key to retaining my faith in humanity is avoiding comment threads like those. It’s just mind-boggling that so many people apparently believe whole-heartedly in the road-going equivalent of ‘no sir, I didn’t punch him – his face ran into my fist.’
I gather this is what happened from online reports and various witness statements:
The 24 year old male driver(insurance rates are commensurately higher for this profile) was merging from two lanes to one passing already queued left lane traffic in the right lane next to the busy shoulder full of cyclists. Realizing that traffic was stopped in the merged lane, he swerved right into the shoulder and hit Dayley with his large full size passenger mirror where Dayley had been riding two abreast, riding to shield a friend’s wife from motorized traffic. The lower left pink mark on the accompanying picture may be the initial spot where contact occurred.
Personally, I choose not to ride two abreast, leaving the temptation to socialize with fellow riders when traffic is no where in sight. “Chivalrous riding” can also be dangerous if an inexperienced rider were to swerve the shielding rider into motorized traffic. Riding as far right into the shoulder as practical leaves room for swerving error for myself and passing motorists.
Keep in mind, “riding as far right into the shoulder as practical for swerving error” can also mean:
*Riding defensively, possibly 3 feet out from the edge of the shoulder. Riding too far to the right leaves one way out –> into traffic.
*Being relegated to the detritus of motor vehicles. The shoulder is not mandatory for bicycles wishing to share the road.
I gather that this was kept in mind when you used the word ‘practical,’ but I wish to remind lesser experience cyclists that we too have rights to the road and must often be maleable to to situation at hand.
I ride with a mirror and in the (hopefully never) chance I spot a wayward vehicle about to crash into me, I’ve thought of “ditch diving.”
I too always road ride (but not when mtn biking) with a mirror. I don’t imagine a mirror would have helped in this situation but on almost every ride I take I’m glad I’ve got my mirror. It’s amazing how much easier it is to ride in traffic when I can easily see what’s happening behind me. I reluctantly bought a mirror many years ago when I rode Cycle Oregon and now I wouldn’t give it up for anything. I strongly recommend one for anyone who road cycles.
Seems at least superficially inconsistent that OSP would arrest a DUI driver on the spot, but in a crash situation, the driver receives no citation during the investigation? I’m sure it makes sense to OSP but surely makes no sense to those of us on two wheels on the road who rely on OSP to keep us safe?
a citation for improper lane usage would seem to be a no-brainer
Steve was a good man and a dear friend. It broke my heart to hear of his passing. I think it would be worthwhile to note here that he did not die of brain cancer like everyone who knew him thought he would. Rather, he was able to prepare for his end of life well in advance and enjoy what precious time he had left out on his bike. Not everyone can be so lucky. He knew his time was limited. His family knew it too. He loved riding. Rest in peace Steve.
Thank you for posting this, Will. I arrived at the scene only a few minutes after it happened and I was badly shaken by it. Knowing that he’d had some time to come to peace with the end of his life makes it easier to accept the tragedy of the situation.
My recollection is that this part of the road had huge construction-type digital signs reading “Warning: Bicycle Event” or something on it. Can anyone who did the ride confirm if that was the right area? When I turned onto this road, I passed a police car, so maybe they stationed one there to slow drivers down. I don’t know.
This situation bears a significant similarity to the tragedy downtown last week — in both cases the drivers turned or veered to the right with no apparent knowledge that a cyclist was in their path. I have often seen this when I’m on my bike. I have tried to become much more vigilant about right hooks, but situations where drivers veer suddenly to the right to avoid another car or object in their path are even more difficult to guard against for cyclists.
I think the problem in general is that drivers are not conditioned to thinking that there could be a vehicle on their right when drivers are traveling in the righ-most car lane; consequently, they do not think to look to their right before turing or swerving in that direction. I don’t think this excuses drivers’ failure to do so, though I do think it largely explains it.
The question becomes how we can solve this problem. The green bike boxes at intersections may have some benefit when all traffic starts from a stop (though I often see cars completely ignoring the green boxes), but they don’t do anything when all verhicles are moving. Perhaps we need to consider some sort of concerted effort to educate drivers that there may be vehicles to their right at any time, requiring them to look BOTH ways before turning or swerving. Let’s see something in the driver’s manual on this issue, and a question on the driver’s exam. I’m under no illusion that these steps would solve the problem, but they’d be a step in the right direction. I also like some of the infrastructure changes suggested above, such as banning some right turns at problematic intersections.
We need more ways to ingrain the notion in drivers that they need to look to the right to save a life.
Danny,
One thing I brought to the attention of the city after Tracey Sparling died is that the city/state/county and so on, do not adequately sign areas where bicycles are present. For example, in some intersections in urban areas, every standard vehicle lane has an overhead sign stating the allowed turning movements of the vehicles in that lane — however bike lanes do not have a sign associated with them. That’s just one example of how areas where people ride bicycles are not respected to the same degree that standard lanes are… And I think it leads to people not expecting that they are driving over a lane of travel.
yes, it would be nice to see the bike lane included on the pole mounted signs showing which direction each lane can go… but there isn’t one of those at each intersection…
It would likely be too confusing for already brain-sapped drivers (what with all the phone-talking and radio-fiddling and back-seat-dog-attending), who would likely think the signs pertained to them and would be duped into things like proceeding straight through a right-turn-only lane, or some such nonsense to where it just wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Cyclists are on their own out there; there is no practical legal protection (only on paper), and very little acknowledgement of cycling as a legitimate form of transport. We seem to be at the begrudging mercy of drivers, who don’t always pay enough attention to be merciful even if they wanted to.
Danny, I see very little similarity between these crashes.
The truck driver in downtown Portland was making what would be a legal right turn except for the presence of the cyclists. The pick-up driver on Highway 18 veered onto the shoulder where he had no reason to be driving.
In the downtown Portland crash, the trucker and the bicyclist were probably traveling about the same speed. On Highway 18, the pick-up driver was likely traveling much faster than the cyclist.
From the less than complete information we have to date, it seems the truck driver in downtown Portland was mostly, but perhaps less than 100 percent responsible. The pick-up driver was 100 percent responsible.
Just my opinion.
The truck driver downtown must yield to the other lane of traffic (the bicycle lane). That is the law. You may not turn across the bike lane if it you cannot complete the turn without obstructing the cyclist.
If indeed *Sunny is correct, how many cyclists would the driver have had to erase from existence at one time to have him at least cited? Three, five, eight? Would it have mattered if any of them had been children? A person takes responsibility for a machine or even simple object, it becomes their primary mandate to use it safely. A child in a park is allowed by a parent to fling a boom-a-rang carelessly and i get stitches, somebody’s getting sued. Any simple device can be used as a weapon, even carelessly…think Three Stooges steel tine rake routine…more like a booby trap, but nonetheless. If my bike gets away from me and i run over someones foot, i would expect trouble. If i somehow killed someone on my bike, every biker in town would be on trial.
if you are riding to the right of a moving car
We are almost always riding to the right of a moving car, or do you always ride in the left-most lane??
Wow, condolences to this man’s family and friends. I had passed through here about two hours earlier, and was actually thinking to myself that it wasn’t such a bad stretch of road, with traffic being fairly light and the shoulder being wide.
From the Oregon Drivers’ Manual, p. 45
Passing on the Right
You may pass on the right only under one of the following conditions:
* The driver you are passing is making or has signaled for a left turn. There must be sufficient space to the right for you to pass without leaving the paved portion of the roadway or driving in a bicycle lane. The roadway in front of the vehicle must be clear.
* You are traveling on a roadway with two or more lanes traveling in the same direction and the vehicle you are passing is in the left lane. You may pass the vehicle using the right lane.
Use extra care when you pass on the right. Other drivers do not expect to be passed on the right.
http://www.odot.state.or.us/forms/dmv/37.pdf
Love all the conjecture, misunderstanding, and sheer ignorance here. John, please keep us posted on the charity ride this fall if it goes on. That’s where we can actually make a difference. My thoughts are with the families.
The comments on that news site are pretty discouraging. That stretch of road is the worst part of Reach the Beach, Saturday we had someone in a large truck drive by honking loudly at every group of cyclists on the road.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a good alternate route, which makes the comments from the “locals” even more frustrating. It’s quite a sense of entitlement which doesn’t allow one to accept the presence of cyclists on that road even one day a year (really only a few hours).
I would really like to see extra enforcement during that part of the ride. A few state police aggressively ticketing menacing motorists might make a difference.
Yes, I think as a precaution perhaps they need to consider better traffic control on that stretch of road during the event in the future.
During the last ~5 miles into Pacific City they had plenty of police officers and flaggers directing traffic, keeping us to the left side of the road (behind cones), and other precautions. No reason they couldn’t pay the OT for a few police officers and flaggers to help make HWY 18 a bit more calm during the event.
I rode by the scene shortly after and saw them working on him. I am baffled why law enforcement set up stings at a remote deserted stop sign to make sure cyclists came to a complete stop, while they seemed to lack in presence on this busy highway to ensure automobiles stayed in thier lane thus keeping cyclists safe.
“I am baffled why law enforcement set up stings at a remote deserted stop sign to make sure cyclists came to a complete stop”
Yep. Just goes to show where the priorities of the elites are. We get repeated enforcement actions in Ladd’s Addition but when a car runs over Karl Moritz a few blocks away and very nearly kills him the authorities basically shrug.
“Just goes to show where the priorities of the elites are. We get repeated enforcement actions in Ladd’s Addition but when a car runs over Karl Moritz a few blocks away and very nearly kills him the authorities basically shrug.” 9watts
Irrational, nonfactual, hysteria fostering remarks such as you’ve provided an example of in your above comment, really isn’t helpful to anyone. Both collisions were of a very serious nature, leaving long lasting consequences for both people and their families. Neither were something for you or anyone else to exploit for the purpose of lobbing relatively petty gripes.
If you’ve got some specific suggestions about how you think law enforcement assisting RTB might have better applied its resources, perhaps you might have considered listing them in your comments instead of posting a cheap shot.
And also, for future reference, since it’s really not germane to this story, with regards to the collision involving Karl Moritz, if you really, truly believe authorities basically shrugged that tragic occurrence off, perhaps you’re prepared to support the opinion with solid facts. Most likely you’re not prepared to do any such thing.
Well I seem to have touched a raw nerve.
My point was simply that in so many cases we can think of
David Apperson,
Bret Lewis,
Reese Wilson,
Karl Moritz,
Hank Bersani,
and I’m going to suggest with Steven Dayley, the authorities do in fact shrug, or their actions amount to something very much like a shrug, in so far as the consequences for killing or very nearly killing a person riding a bike with your car are quite minimal.
The folks on bikes who the police lie in wait for at stop signs are cited. They get a ticket, a hefty fine, etc. But in the cases that I’ve listed above I’m not as certain that the drivers of the cars who ran over and in most instances killed those people did.
The fact (oft mentioned here) that they have to live with the fact that they killed someone is quite a separate matter and I don’t think it is particularly germane to the issues of public sanction, of law enforcement I’m talking about.
One more thing. I wonder if it is possible to dig a little and find out what exactly did happen to the drivers of the cars that killed all those people on bicycles over the time that bikeportland has existed? Jonathan?
My sense is that in a surprising and exasperating number of cases the answer is not much, but if it turns out that months later after the media had moved on some real sanctions were meted out I’d be very interested to know more, to learn the details.
wsbob, you seem to suggest that in Karl Moritz’s case this was different, that the authorities did not ‘shrug.’ Why don’t you offer details if you know any.
Knowledge I have of the collision Karl Moritz was involved in came from stories here on bikeportland, Oregonian, and in comments Karl Moritz wrote himself either in letters and comments to bikeportland or to a separate blog (not sure about the latter.).
Speaking here from memory without having drawn those sources up in a search: The collision involving a motor vehicle driver and Karl Moritz is a bit of puzzle that no one has been able to put together. Why? If I remember correctly, in part because it seems that people came upon the scene of the collision within seconds after the collision, but nobody except the person driving and Moritz himself…seriously injured with his mental function seriously impaired as a result, meaning…he’s had difficulty putting together exactly what happened…actually witnessed the collision itself. The motor vehicle operator has a version of what happened that information gathered about the collision hasn’t been able to refute.
The circumstances with respect to the collision involving a motor vehicle driver and Steven Daley, the person riding the bike during Reach the Beach, appear to be much different; seems to be witnesses to the collision…road situation and signage appears to been such that notice of a special event in progress would have readily apparent to a responsible motor vehicle operator. All of this so far seems to be pointing up strongly that 24-year-old Fred Moore from Battleground, Washington, failed to heed those readily apparent warnings.
I believe police have investigated both collisions. As far as I know, which is just the knowledge of another citizen trying to understand from the news what’s going on, they haven’t shrugged these and other collisions off as of no consequence. They’ve done what the law allows them to do. Police can’t…or shouldn’t…just make up a law where one doesn’t exist, to go after someone, a person or persons happen to think is guilty of something.
Where there are laws and a penalties that should exist but don’t currently, for people that have failed to exercise due care with regards to enjoying freedoms associated with use of the road, it’s the job of the public…from plain rank and file working class people to voter elected and officially appointed people in government and law…to formulate such laws that justly consider what the person has done, and deliver if called for, the penalty deserved. Where a law exists, the cops can cite and arrest people and the courts can issue judgment. Without a law…nothing.
So sorry to hear of this crash. I’ve ridden RTB twice, and it’s a great ride. Fortunately most of the route is on lovely quiet roads. The section where this crash occurred is a little dicey feeling, but fortunately has a very wide shoulder and I never thought something like this would happen.
Really disgusting that the cops were targeting cyclists at a stop sign on a day when this happened. I bet (at least I hope) it wasn’t OSP doing that.
Hey Fred, I know you are reading this. This is a crappy way to grow up, I hope you meet the challenge with some humility, honesty and sanity. You and all the families involved are on our minds this day- and every spring we will ever get to see. Spread the word and use that experience for good in your life.
Ok, I’ll lay some blame on the route and therefore the organizers.
Two years ago when I rode, I almost got hit in this same stretch. The problem is that there is a very high volumne corridor limited to one lane with a big tempting sholder that one could use to jump up to the various stores and road intersections. On that day two years ago, there was bumber to bumper beach traffic, and a guy driving a big black suburban was pissed and try to get to the conveinance store. He almost hit me, and came even close to hitting another couple.
Unless there is some sort of physical separation (cones or tape) along this short stretch, there will always be chaos and the potential to repeat this tragady.
My 2 cents
I think a gathering as was done for Kathryn Rickson is in order for Mr.Steven Dayley. Perhaps a show of support in this situation would expand the misconstrued perception that concerns for a shared road space by all ,extend much farther than city limit’s.
I like to drop pianos out of my bedroom window, on the second story. Unfortunately, sometimes pedestrians get hit, a consequence of their choice to walk on a road not suitable for walking.
Seriously, this kind of blame-the-victim attitude needs to be confronted head-on, like it has been in other contexts – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk
Hello there. This was such a sad story. I heard that Steven Dayley was organizing a fundraiser rike ride for his cancer treatment facility, I would love to get more information on this bike ride. Does anyone have any details?? Thank you so much!!!