(Photo: Sarah Iannarone)
One person was killed and another person sustained life-threatening injuries in two separate crashes this weekend. Both of them happened about one mile apart in southeast Portland.
On Saturday evening around 5:40, Portland police responded to a collision near the intersection of SE 148th and Division. They discovered that a bicycle rider had been hit by a driver and was lying on the ground. “Based on preliminary information,” read their statement, “officers believe the motorist and bicyclist were both traveling south on Southeast 148th Avenue when the bicyclist was struck by the vehicle.”
The man was believed to have “serious life threatening injuries.”
About 24 hours later, officers responded to another crash about one mile north at the corner of SE Stark and 146th. This one also involved a vulnerable person — a walker — who had been struck by an automobile user. A 40-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. “Based on the information learned during the preliminary investigation,” reads the statement, “officers believe the pedestrian was on Southeast Stark Street when he was struck by a vehicle traveling on Southeast Stark Street.”
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In March another person was killed while walking across Stark just two blocks away at 148th.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation ranks Stark and 148th as the 10th most dangerous intersection in the city. 148th and Division is ranked 12th.
PBOT is currently working to implement a Safety Action Plan for Outer Division. Among the updates planned for 148th are a closure of an existing southbound slip lane and new school zone beacons.
We’ve reached out to the PPB for updates on both of these collisions but have yet to hear back.
Sunday’s fatality brings the yearly tally of Portland traffic deaths to 39*. By this date last year we had 36 deaths and 44 total.
NOTE: This post originally stated the death total as 43; but we have gotten clarification from PBOT that — while 43 people have died — the officially recorded total so far is 39. This is because several of this year’s deaths fall outside PBOT’s criteria. Fatalities are excluded from the official count when: a person dies more than 30 days after the crash, the death is ruled a suicide, a motor vehicle is not involved, or if it occurs in a parking lot.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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