Bicycle rider seriously injured in collision at SE Division and 92nd

Eastbound Division just west of SE 92nd.

The Portland Police Bureau says a 47-year-old woman is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after she was involved in a collision with a car driver in southeast late Friday night.

According to a police statement, it happened around 11:17 pm in the southernmost lanes of SE Division and 92nd. They say a 25-year-old man was driving a Toyota Camry eastbound on Division when the collision took place.

The PPB statement also included speculation that the bicycle rider, “may have disregarded traffic signals” and that “weather-related visibility” could have been a factor. The investigation into the crash is ongoing, so it’s not clear why they felt the need to make any judgments about fault at this time.

There are standard, unprotected bike lanes on 92nd Ave in both directions at this location. Both streets have a maximum speed limit of 30 mph. And due to its proximity to I-205, this section of Division is managed by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

It’s notable that this is one of the first serious collisions on Division since TriMet and the City of Portland completed the $175 million Division Transit Project. The Portland Bureau of Transportation also recently completed their $13 million Outer Division Safety Project that included changes at 92nd. Among the recent upgrades have been new pavement and street lights for better visibility.

We’re still trying to learn more about how Friday collision happened. If anyone has more information, please get in touch.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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curly
curly
2 years ago

Tragic.
92nd and Division is a top 30 High Crash intersection.High Crash Network Streets and Intersections | Portland.gov

cc_rider
cc_rider
2 years ago

The PPB statement also included speculation that the bicycle rider, “may have disregarded traffic signals” and that “weather-related visibility” could have been a factor. The investigation into the crash is ongoing, so it’s not clear why they felt the need to make any judgments about fault at this time

Another way that this could be stated is “the person who hit a human being with their car tolds us the human they hit was at fault”. I’m guessing they haven’t had a good conversation with the victim yet.

Secondly, if “weather-related visibility” was a factor, wouldn’t that inherently make speed a factor? Motorists have the responsibility to slow down to a safe speed in low visibility conditions. If the motorist hit the cyclists due to “visibility”, that almost certainly requires them to be driving too fast for the conditions.

squareman
squareman
2 years ago
Reply to  cc_rider

Secondly, if “weather-related visibility” was a factor, wouldn’t that inherently make speed a factor? Motorists have the responsibility to slow down to a safe speed in low visibility conditions. If the motorist hit the cyclists due to “visibility”, that almost certainly requires them to be driving too fast for the conditions.

If it was possible to agree more than 100% I would.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
2 years ago
Reply to  cc_rider

All road users have the responsibility to slow down to a safe speed in low visibility conditions.

Fred
Fred
2 years ago

Yep – and it’s even MORE important to slow down when you’re driving a Camry that weighs 3,310 to 3,595 lbs. “All road users” glosses over the massive difference in damage the car users exact on other road users.

cc_rider
cc_rider
2 years ago

I will make sure to note that the next time someone riding a bike seriously injures or kills someone in a car due to excessive speed

Christopher of Portland
Christopher of Portland
2 years ago

This bike lane is often used as a turn lane or parking. I’ve seen some sketchy bike riding in this area but the sketchy driving is much more dangerous and much more common. I don’t think the recent Division improvements went far enough, especially near the freeway ramps.

dw
dw
2 years ago

Yeah I ride through here almost daily and the places that needed curbs and bike signals the most didn’t get them. Sure I like the new protected intersections at 148th & 162nd but there needs to be one at 92nd & Division – exactly where this happened.

Todd/Boulanger
Todd/Boulanger
2 years ago

Jonathan…a word choice recommendation:

There are standard, unprotected bike lanes on 92nd.”

The word “standard” may be a poor word choice here…unless you have an engineering license / or have confirmed with a field check that these lanes meet PBoTs / MUTCDs minimum adopted design details for width, lane placement, spacing of vertical delineators (if its ‘protected’) etc. etc. for the type of a bikeway it is. [And even if it meets PBoT ‘standards’ they may still not be best practice etc…or maintained well.]

So in future…it may be better to avoid the use of “standard” for communicating and available information.

Or if you want to add more descriptive detail you might write something like: “There are [striped but] unprotected bike lanes on 92nd.”

As I don’t have access to the police report…and I cannot exactly tell from the text as to where the cyclist was riding when they were hit by the driver…but I will assume they were on 92nd and not on SE Division with its (‘protected bike lane’ but with very widely spaced delineators).

Todd/Boulanger
Todd/Boulanger
2 years ago

PS> And my sympathy goes out to the cyclist and their family due to this traumatic (life changing) roadway event.

dw
dw
2 years ago

Ugh, this is part of my commute every morning so it really hits home. I’m sure the victim’s life will never be the same but I sincerely hope they make as full of a recovery as possible.

I’m trying to figure out how this happened. The article says it was in the southern-most lanes of Division while the driver was going East. My money is that the driver either right-hooked the cyclist trying to take the turn too fast to beat the yellow light, or the light was red but the pedestrian crossing was ‘green’, so the cyclist went (as they are legally allowed to do), and the driver rammed them while making a right turn on red probably after barely slowing down. Only other plausible explanation would be the cyclist traveling on 92 blew through a red light.

Either way, it’s so disappointing that ODOT opted to throw down some paint and nothing else while the rest of outer Division got a complete overhaul.

curly
curly
2 years ago
Reply to  dw

Either way, it’s so disappointing that ODOT opted to throw down some paint and nothing else while the rest of outer Division got a complete overhaul.

I think PBOT just striped 92nd north and south of this intersection to include bike lanes, but still have shared right turn lanes.

This, like most of the High Crash intersections in the city (East Portland) have been identified for a dozen years. Unfortunately, these intersections have been key to riding East Portland as we’ve had no alternatives until recently. If you ride these corridors, Be Safe!

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
2 years ago
Reply to  curly

Outer Division is a PBOT stroad, originally built by the county, never ODOT, though TriMet had a hand in this project too. 92nd is also PBOT. As with stroads like Glisan, ODOT does manage speed limits on parts of Division, but stroadway ownership, management and maintenance is entirely PBOT.

curly
curly
2 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=20480

ODOT did the I-205 on and off ramps with this project. Especially important to cyclists heading eastbound was the room they gave us between the bike lane marking and the storm grate on the east side of the southbound freeway entrance. It was about 18″ previously, widened another 24″.

ODOT paved, restriped and redid corners and crossings at 96th Ave.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
2 years ago
Reply to  curly

Superwide Division from 82nd to beyond 181st was built by the county in the 70s before I-205 was constructed, as a 7-laner. Very likely ODOT rebuilt part of Division under the freeway in the 80s from 94th to 97th before the city annexed it between 1986 and 1991. The city added the bike lanes and on-street parking by taking out a lane in each direction in the early 90s. 92nd was also originally a wideish county stroad.

soren
soren
2 years ago
Reply to  dw

so the cyclist went (as they are legally allowed to do),

Only if the person cycling is in the crosswalk but it should be legal in any context.

Fred
Fred
2 years ago

I continue to find PPB’s statements about these incidents infuriating.

They continue to use the word “cooperating” to describe the actions of the car driver in the aftermath of the incident (“The driver stopped and is cooperating with police”). No, the driver is fulfilling his legal duty, which is to stop and wait for police and then talk with them. “Cooperating” exonerates the driver in everyone’s mind.

Also PPB says nothing at all about what led them to their conclusion (they say “preliminary” but we all know it’s conclusive). Did other witnesses describe what happened, or is their conclusion based on the testimony of the driver only?

I’ve decided that if I were king, I would impose a one-year driving ban on ANY driver who hit a cyclist or pedestrian – even when it’s not the driver’s fault. The threat of such a ban would make every driver SLOW DOWN around cyclists and peds, and would save many lives. Right now drivers have no incentive to slow down b/c the police will exonerate them from fault unless they are drunk.

soren
soren
2 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Right now drivers have no incentive to slow down b/c the police will exonerate them from fault

We need something like this (but we won’t get it without major political conflict):

comment image

Todd/Boulanger
Todd/Boulanger
2 years ago
Reply to  soren

This where our community leaders (and department heads, police and fire too) who have supported Vision Zero need to reverse ‘the equation’…start at the goal of 0% roadway deaths and work ‘rearwards” to achieve it…vs how most if not all US communities undertake this VZ effort…press release, pose for ribbon cutting, nibble at the edges of the problem for a few months before going back to the old practices.

dw
dw
2 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Even if they are drunk, don’t worry, the judge will let them off easy* because “you can’t take away someone’s ability to get around!”

*does not apply to marginalized groups the judge doesn’t like

Amit Zinman
2 years ago

I find that Division in that area is pretty safe as long as you go straight and no cars are parked in the bike lane or you turn right. Turning left though is a mystery, there’s aren’t really great places to do so or any indication as far as I could tell on which turn is the best to connect to a greenway.