It’s the morning after two people were killed in fatal collisions with car drivers while bicycling on Portland streets. They both happened in northeast Portland east of I-205: one on NE Glisan near Menlo Park Elementary School around 2:30 am and the other in an industrial-zoned area of NE 105th north of Sandy Blvd at about 9:00 am.
I’ve heard a bit more details about the second collision from the Portland Police Bureau and one local TV station shared videos from the scenes — including what appears to be security video of the collision on NE Glisan — so we know a bit more about that crash as well. Two Portland City Council candidates have also come forward with a joint statement.
While I wait to learn more about what happened, let’s talk about the media coverage and response from candidates.
NE Glisan just west of NE 130th
I am grateful for local TV stations that have the capacity to send a video crew to any location in our city at any hour of the day. They also do important leg work in gathering information. But sometimes their framing is extremely bad and unhelpful. Case in point is KPTV Fox 12. Their story, “Portland biking community urges safety after 2 deadly crashes in 12 hours,” focused primarily on telling bike riders how to be more safe by gearing up with high-visibility clothing and other equipment.
That’s a fine message, but not in this context.
Prior to spending most of the segment hearing from one veteran bicycle rider (and then calling it “Portland biking community” as if one person speaks for anyone but themselves), the KPTV reporter introduced video of the hit-and-run on NE Glisan. It appears to be shot from the front yard of a house on the south side of the street between NE 130th and 128th (above). In the video — UPDATE: which I now have my own copy of — we can clearly see a man on a bike pedaling west in the general travel lane. Then a black or dark blue, two-door sports car comes flying into the frame and plows into the bike rider from behind at a very high rate of speed.
It’s notable that the bike rider didn’t appear to be using the bike lane. After reviewing video from a nearby homeowner, the impact happened just as the rider went under the pedestrian overpass. While we might never know why the rider didn’t use the bike lane, it’s important to note that Oregon law does not require a bicycle rider to use a bike lane if there’s a hazard (like debris or other obstruction), or if the rider is preparing to make a left turn. Since first posting this story, I’m now able to view the video on my own without having to rely on Fox 12 TV.
The screenshot below shows the bicycle rider about 100 feet east of the overpass. It was taken from a security camera about five seconds before impact:
One second later, this car flies into the frame. Notice how the speed of the suspect car (one the left) is so much higher than the SUV in the photo below that it’s significantly more blurred:
To see this video and then decide to spend most of the news segment telling bike riders they’d be safer with “grippy pedals” and “side lights” shows a complete misunderstanding of the issues and comes off as victim blaming. It also perpetuates the culture of irresponsible driving that is a large part of why so many vulnerable road users are killed every year.
NE 105th and Marx
According to new information from the PPB shared with BikePortland this morning, there were multiple drivers traveling southbound on NE 105th. “As one attempted to turn eastbound onto NE Marx Street, it was involved in a crash with a cyclist traveling northbound on NE 105th Avenue.”
Identities of the deceased are pending notification of kin. I hope to learn more about both of these crashes in the days and weeks to come.
Timur Ender and Steph Routh are both leading candidates to represent District 1 on Portland City Council. They also both have significant experience in the transportation space — Ender as a Portland Bureau of Transportation project manager and Routh as an executive director of nonprofit Oregon Walks (among other things). They released a join statement yesterday about these tragedies.
“This is not an academic exercise for people in District 1. Our part of town has more gun violence, more traffic deaths, and a life expectancy 10 years lower than the rest of Portland,” Ender and Routh wrote. “This is our current reality, but it doesn’t have to be our future.”
The two candidates know “public safety” is the most popular phrase on the campaign trail and they want more Portlanders to understand how road safety is a key part of it. They shared a link to a map of shootings in Portland to illustrate how they are much more frequent along fast, dangerous roads with a history of crashes.
“As we work toward a future where everyone can thrive, we must recognize that community safety includes leveraging the tools, levers, and resources of local government to extend our community’s life expectancy,” Ender and Route wrote. “We are committed to providing the political support to do that.”