(Photo source: Unknown)
[Publisher’s Note: Normally I wouldn’t report this story. Traffic collisions happen every day and sometimes they involve a person on a bike. I don’t consider them newsworthy simply because a bicycle is involved. In this case, I decided to publish more information about this collision because of questions some readers had following a minor mention of it in The Oregonian on Saturday. — Jonathan]
A minor collision at the intersection of NW Broadway and Glisan sent a woman to the hospital on Saturday morning.
We have learned from the Portland Police Bureau that 50-year-old Alan Moditz from Ridgefield, Washington was driving a four-door Hyundai southbound on NW Broadway when a collision occurred with a bicycle being ridden by 37-year old Megan Neuman from southeast Portland.
The PPB tells us that Neuman was bicycling west on Glisan and that she made contact with the driver’s side front fender of Moditz’s vehicle. An email from the PPB said that Neuman, “was down in the street when police and medical arrived,” and that she was, “wearing a helmet but it flew off during the crash.” She was transported to a hospital with “no apparent serious injuries.”
There were no witnesses and no citations issued. PPB says both parties believed they had the green light.
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Not enough information here to draw a conclusion. Hope the bike rider recovers well. I don’t like riding on Glisan there, I usually go up Hoyt.
Most of my close calls are with people driving vehicles with Washington plates. This is not a coincidence.
Oh come on.
I remember getting into a near car-on-car wreck in that neighborhood years ago. I had the green on Glisan; the other car (a Suburban with a vanity plate “BURB” — how perfect is that?) said he didn’t have a red. Of course he didn’t, because he was going the wrong way on a one-way street.
So they both “believed” they had the light, unless the light malfunctioned, one of they was wrong. Can’t they check the numerous police cameras down there and find out, or is it not in their interest to determine fault?
I don’t know if they could or not but they won’t bother unless someone is killed.
Cases like this make me think it is time to mount a digital video camera on my bike. Big 5 has them on sale this week.
Nuovorecord makes a valid point. Due to all the bikes in the streets, driving in Portland is fundamentally different than nearly every other American city. It seems like there are many accidents involving drivers, often truckers, from out of town who just do not have the “radar” for bikes in traffic.
Since there is no special permit for driving in Portland, no stamp to show that you have good bike radar, it’s up to us to be more careful of them.
you go ahead and be more careful, ian. i much prefer to teach them how to share the road.
You CAN do both, you know. I prefer to dispense wisdom to drivers without putting my life on the line.
its not always possible to avoid inattentive and/or criminally negligent drivers no matter how careful you are. imo, the “lets be more careful meme” is a mild form of bike stockholm syndrome. how often does a motorist state that “its up to us to be more careful” after an accident?
i am with peejay on this one. absent any video, we cannot know what happened here, and each of the parties is locked in to her/his story. but supposing the light was not yet red for ms neuman as she entered the intersection, but was nonetheless turning green before she hit the fender, then a reasonably likely scenario is that mr. moditz was watching the light change and not watching for cross traffic smaller than a bread truck, and ms neuman was moving fast enough she was unable to evade. if this is how this in fact played out, the motorist would be “at fault,” but in a somewhat predictable way, which a defensive cyclist might be able to deal with. and still be in a position to educate the motorist.
How are you going to “teach” them?
I agree with Todd B. about bicycle cameras. http://WWW.4kam.com sells bicycle sells very reasonably priced and light-weight digital video cameras for helmet or bicycle. I think front and back views are the way to go. Front and back may seem over the top, but, they might be good for evidence, training, and may even keep the carpeoples more honest.
Huh. Man drives 25 miles from Washington, accidentally hits and injures a local resident riding her bike in her home city, and receives no citation whatsoever from the local police. I wonder how often this situation is repeated. Thanks for nothing PPB.
Were you there? No proof of wrongdoing no citation. Don’t villainize the police for doing their job!
Thats if the driver is wise 🙂 but hear ya.