On Tuesday morning around 8:00 am, commuting calm was shattered on one of Portland’s busiest bicycling corridors when a driver careened off the road, flew across the bikeway, and slammed into a metal fence, leaving a trail of broken debris in their wake. It happened on Southeast Milwaukie where it crosses the rail tracks at SE 12th.
I heard about it from several people and my first response was: Here we go again. There has been a disturbing drumbeat of drivers failing to control their vehicles and driving them into spaces that are expected to be carfree.
In the past month or so I’ve reported on several serious incidents. In early August, a man drove onto the sidewalk and killed someone on NE Martin Luther King Jr. and then hopped another median before coming to rest after a head-on collision with another driver. Later that month a suspected car thief sped across the (carfree) Tilikum Crossing Bridge. On September 17th, a driver intentionally drove through the Holman Pocket Park, only to be stopped by concrete bollards. Then on Sunday I posted photos of a driver who crashed into a planter area on the sidewalk of SW 1st and Main.
These are just a few recent examples of what feels like an out of control epidemic of dangerous and reckless driving on Portland streets. It’s a violent byproduct of a system where cars and their drivers have too much freedom to destroy and disrupt. If there’s a war on our streets, this is the closest thing to it.
“It’s infuriating that cars are increasingly careening into places they don’t belong,” said BikePortland reader Andy F., who was nearly hit by that driver who crashed into the sidewalk-level bike lane on SE Gideon Tuesday morning.
I asked Andy to share his experience. His account below and photos from the scene are chilling:
“A driver traveling northbound on Milwaukie Ave at high speed lost control near the Clinton/Gideon rail tracks intersection. He struck and knocked down a metal traffic light pole, then careened onto the curb, through fencing, and onto the MAX tracks.
I heard a loud noise (the driver first knocking down a metal traffic light pole). I thankfully was able to quickly move out of the way prior to the driver careening onto the curb, through the fencing next to the rail, and onto the tracks themselves. I escaped a direct hit by at most seven feet. It’s remarkable no other bikers/pedestrians were struck. I saw/heard no attempt to brake before he mounted the pedestrian path. I have no estimate for speed, but it was clearly high velocity given the damage and airbag deployment. If he had hit someone he would have seriously injured, or more likely killed them.
Because the driver now was on the tracks with a MAX train heading Eastward (other bikers were able to flag the train to stop thankfully) — and after ensuring area was safe — I was able to speak to the driver to get his permission to help and open door (very tinted windows made it difficult to visually determine safety) and pull him from the car. A young man, very confused and understandably disoriented. The steering wheel and side-curtain airbags all deployed. It’s easy to assume he was intoxicated, however it’s also totally possible he had a medical event (seizure, cardiac episode, etc.). Irrespective of those circumstances, he clearly was driving way too fast. Fire and EMS took a very long time to arrive. 911 repeatedly dropped my calls, and response times felt very slow, which was frustrating.
A huge shout out to the staff and workforce at Urban Alchemy who (were working working nearby and) were some of the first to the scene bringing Narcan and first aid kits. It was heartening to see the direct caring actions of people biking-by and local businesses — helping make sure the driver was safe and stable, flagging down the MAX train and communicating with EMS, etc.”
In addition to telling us what happened, Andy also wanted to share a personal message about how the incident has impacted him.
“I used to exclusively commute to work by bike years ago. But as I’ve moved further away from the city core and other life circumstances, I had largely stopped. I’ve been ashamed about that for a good while, missing the energy and liberation of biking and connecting with outdoors and Portland again. My choice to “fall out” of bike commuting has not only been a huge physical and mental health loss for me, but totally at odds with my values — wanting to minimize the negative impact my life has on the environment and local communities.
A few months ago I finally bit-the-bullet and bought an e-bike (a total game changer!) and have been so proud to finally be biking again. It’s been transformative just like it was years ago. It changed my work days and my general outlook substantially. And with the e-bike, going from Southwest Portland to outer Southeast is totally doable!
After Tuesday’s incident, I hope I don’t lose my bike-commuting inertia. I hope it doesn’t deter others from choosing more healthy ways of getting around. With that being said though, I don’t know if I can unconditionally recommend biking to/from work right now, especially more vulnerable or less experienced riders… Not with all the increasing road-rage and reckless driving. It’s great for those of us who feel confident on bikes, but it’s not accessible or safe for many people. That’s the unmeasurable tragedy to all this.
It’s infuriating that cars are increasingly careening into places they don’t belong. But it’s even more obnoxious the lethargic responses and sense of resignation from our elected officials. It’s not a moonshot to build infrastructure that can literally save and protect lives. How can we possibly encourage more people to ride bikes, or walk or jog, or do much of anything when they can so clearly see the car shrapnel and tire marks all over these paths? And after hearing and seeing all these near misses?
I’m grateful I wasn’t hit, and even more grateful I didn’t have to watch someone else killed. It was that close.
Please for the love of God, chill the f*** out in your cars and demand more from your elected officials. Maintaining the status quo is not good enough.”
Historically, policymakers have responded to incidents like this as if they are unpreventable one-offs with no systemic solution beyond the slow march toward hardening the system for bicycle users. But it’s clear we don’t have enough physically protected infrastructure. What we need is nothing short of a usable network of bike lanes that is either completely off-street or separated from drivers with tall, immovable concrete curbs — combined with street designs and system of enforcement and legal consequences that make it clear what type of behavior is expected from car users. We will only move the needle for cycling in Portland when our city, county and state jurisdictions provide that level of protection and we see more local leaders directly address the urgency of this crisis.
Thanks for reading.
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I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again:
Until there is active enforcement of laws in Portland, we will continue to see out-of-control drivers.
In my 20+ years of living in Portland, I’ve seen maybe TWO drivers get pulled over by police. There is almost ZERO active enforcement by PPB and other law-enforcement agencies. Everyone knows you can drive with impunity and get away with it.
People don’t like police? Then get used to being killed and maimed by drivers.
We need more “enforcement” by the thin-skinned incompetents who refused to enforce traffic laws because their feelings were hurt by activist/politician free-speech?
Ummm…no.
The malicious neglect of their sworn duty and their biased targeting of minorities is a part of the reason so many people die on Portland’s roads. When it comes to addressing CAR-nage, our entire legal system needs to be gutted and reformed from the ground up.
Repeal then replace?
So definitely no enforcement then?
That wouldn’t be equitable. Think of all the poor fent addicts who need a car to get around.
Pretty much no enforcement is our current reality and yet “moderates”
and “liberals” cling to more of the same because they are so very afraid of a better Portland for all.
Meanwhile, progressives and radicals are all in on more cops and more vigorous enforcement.
Early in the summer, a brand new (legitimate dealer tags!) Subaru heading west on SE Holgate crossed oncoming traffic, jumped the curb, and hit the telephone pole in front of my house so hard that its battery ended up at least 50 ft away from the car. He nearly perfectly split the telephone pole (~2 ft in diameter) at his bumper. The pole remained vertical, but was shortened and displaced by about 3 ft.
This happed around 3 pm, just as traffic starts to pick up on Holgate. PGE had to be onsite for the next 24 hours (worked through the night) repairing the pole and correcting the tension in the lines.
I was working from home that day, and heard the driver accelerate very aggressively before the crash. Other drivers who stopped indicated that he might have been trying a dangerous (blind) pass around a moving delivery van and had to veer further left to avoid a head-on collision.
This is a section of Holgate where I see people walking up and down the sidewalk regularly. It’s not a pedestrian destination, but there’s steady foot traffic for sure.
Live or drive on Holgate enough and you’ll witness a few (but impactful amount of) people absolutely losing their mind at cars traveling 30 mph or less in the 25 mph speed limit zone. You’ll wake up in the middle of the night hearing cars gun it to make the green light at 52nd, traveling well over 60 mph. You can hear the loud engines in your house for nearly a full minute if they’re going hard enough.
I’ve had people honk, swerve, and flash their lights at me for going the speed limit. I’ve lost count of the so many dangerous passes that force oncoming traffic to take evasive maneuvers.
I’ve witnessed at least 4 parked cars on the side of the road get hit and totaled. The telephone pole across the street from me has been hit before too. Residents closer to Chavez are pretty much parking on the sidewalk at this point to avoid losing their mirrors or worse.
We can’t continue down this path. It isn’t going to work.
I remember this incident. I live just south of you on 52nd, and three weeks ago a drunk driver going probably 70-80 southbound on 52nd lost control, hit the curb, flew OVER our yard, and smashed the neighbor’s parked car INTO their house, knocking it off the foundation. They lost two cars and the house is uninhabitable. It’s an epidemic.
The crash on 52nd is the cover story on the October issue of The Bee which arrived at my house on Monday… I tried to find you a link but apparently it’s not anywhere on their website!
Holy crap! I’m almost always snaking through the neighborhood when I need to head south. This is why!
Aggressive driver. I was driving back home from a mountain bike ride on Sunday, 9/28/25, and remember this car driving aggressive around Powell and Cesar Chavez. I mean who can forget the dimpled rear bumper?? When I saw that car on Sunday I thought to myself that person is a danger.
No worries though, Mr. Broccoli hair behind the wheel will surely be back at it again when he gets his oil pan repaired! Worst that can happen is his insurance rates go up (if he has insurance)
What does this mean?
I think we can guess
I have a couple of guesses. I want DW to type it out and remove the ambiguity.
Some Gen Z kid? Timothee Chalamet?
It’s that undercut perm haircut that lots of gen z (and millennials who can’t come to terms with their aging) sport. Probably a dumb thing for me to say because it assumes a connection between appearance and behavior which is not cool. Drivers from all ages, races, and backgrounds are capable of speeding so fast they plow over a bike path and end up on the MAX tracks 🙂
BP please post the PPB report when it comes on line.
I think this example underscores the limitations of infrastructure. The Gideon path is a curb-protected MUP, and the curb did nearly nothing to stop this car. Enforcement needs to be a part of the solution to help change the driving culture. Cameras, cops, all of it. Pull people over for speeding, noisy mufflers, tinted windows, not using a signal, etc. Send tickets to cars with out of date registration, red light runners, speeders. Oregon should ban right on red today, state-wide.
I am a big proponent of safety through infrastructure, but some of our best “protection” is low concrete curbs. This shows how futile these are against today’s over-sized, over-powered vehicles.
I think small curbs are a good example of something I’ve been saying for many years now: That our mitigations to these threats have fallen behind the severity of the these threats. I think we need more four foot high curbs instead of four inch high curbs.
Look what Denver is doing – https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/17lhlnh/beautiful_new_protected_bike_lane_with_tall_curbs/
A million times this! The 4 inch barriers are a joke with the same design priority as floppy plastic flex posts – minimize damage to cars instead of minimizing loss of life.
They have one just like it on 10th Street NE in Atlanta too next to Piedmont Park, but 2-way.
We are lauded as a celebrated biking city. But I think this recognition is based on the legacy of individuals who’ve created a town that extolls biking and the folks who continue to endure on our roads; the bike bus movement being a recent example. Largely, it is not based on our biking infrastructure.
Visits to Minneapolis and Seattle in the past decade have illustrated more robust and extensive projects than we are undertaking. And now apparently Denver is also showing us what is achievable when barriers are taken seriously and buffers aren’t mere inches-high bumps.
Our city’s leadership, through a succession of inert mayoral administrations and proclamation-without-activation city councils, has abdicated their responsibility to construct meaningful, safe, and permanent physically protected and physically separated bike infrastructure.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that all too often PBOT announces a project with great fanfare to only find that the final, completed project is a half-hearted construction dominated by what-could-have-been possibilities. The far too commonplace painted lines and plastic wands are the municipal version of smoke and mirrors. It’s almost as if PBOT just shrugs and mutters, “it’s better than nothing.”
in regard to a recent project, for all of the talk about the upgrades on Broadway, from a biking perspective I’m left — as we are so often with bike projects in Portland — exceedingly underwhelmed by another concession-laden conclusion. Is it a hot mess? Probably not, but it’s tepid, lacking necessary protection. And should we build showcase projects that can be characterized this way?
City leadership has been forewarned. It is far beyond time for Portland to build an extensive network of genuinely safe physically protected or physically separated bike infrastructure. The ink isn’t even dry on another recent Vision Zero proclamation when we’ve had a vivid reminder that Portland needs to completely reconfigure the way it views physical barriers.
cotw
A major deficiency with solid barriers or tall curbs is that those configurations result in debris building up in the bike lane. I read the articles about Portland’s mini street sweepers but I’ve never seen one in use and the region is full of bike facilities that are basically not maintained.
I’m not sold on solid barriers until there is adequate (almost any) maintenance.
I hear you on this J_R, but would caution you that the way you are looking at this is a scarcity model which I believe we really have to avoid. We must expect and demand the maintenance will happen and not let the inadequacy of current maintenance stop us from pushing for these better solutions.
We’ve been doing that!
yes I know. It was meant rhetorically as an argument against a scarcity mindset
One thing about those tall curbs is I doubt they cost a huge amount more than lower ones. Most of the costs of a tall-curb project would be identical to a low-curb one.
And so many of the supposedly protective curbs are beveled and intentionally mountable. They are low speed bumps, and designed to not damage a motor vehicle that runs over them.
This is what the PBOT is building on SW 4th right now- expensive but largely ineffective infrastructure.
If you define “effective infrastructure” as parts of the roadway that are physically walled off from other parts of the roadway by a barrier capable of withstanding a crash like the one in this story, then PBOT will never build “effective infrastructure” in any more than a few isolated spots.
They simply can’t given the other constraints they face (such as their budget).
I agree! Infrastructure has severe limitations. We need people to drive differently/better.
Yes. Or not at all. The sooner humans are out of the driving game, the better.
Bollards look nice and easily could have stopped this car. They would need to be installed right where it looks like they should obviously be installed.
Do you mean where they should obviously be installed in hindsight, at this particular location, or do you mean they should be installed at every bend on every collector and arterial in the city?
I don’t know who’s side you think you’re on, but you sure advocate for the devil a lot.
This intersection is obviously a good place for bollards. It could have been foreseen. Traffic that has to turn, pointed at an unprotected busy pedestrian and bike path.
Even if we pretend this wasn’t easily predicted, yes, do it in hindsight, since now it is obviously needed and there is no downside.
Bollards in this location is workable. But why this site when there are dozens, hundreds of sites where a crash is equally or even more likely that just haven’t come to your attention recently. Every time there’s a crash, someone claims it was foreseeable.
We need to approach safety in a systematic way, not just go after the most recent problem to have happened. Figure out where the crashes are most likely to happen (we could call these “the high crash network” or something) , and prioritize spending our resources there.
Which side am I on? I’m on the side of rationality. Which side are you on?
Who said we shouldn’t put bollards at those locations too?
You know, the last thing a person says isn’t actually the only thing they care about, usually.
Wow. Scary – so many folks bike on that path, lucky nobody was seriously injured. Maybe concrete bollards protecting pedestrians here are needed – the speed you can achieve from milwaukie (and even gideon) can be pretty quick. Also – doesn’t trimet/UP have cameras here – there might be video to be had here. Glad to hear Alchemy in a positive light, I think that’s a first.
PBOT needs to redirect a portion of their budget away from concrete planters and strips of paint to PDX Police specifically to fund traffic cops. I know PDX Police have been hiring more officers recently. But I have seen only one motorcycle cop pull over a driver in the past 4-years. I could be missing other enforcement actions, but it sure looks like there aren’t many.
The increase in bicycle commuters and recreational riders during the COVID shutdown was largely due to the lack of cars on the road. That was empirical evidence one of the largest detractors to more cycling by many is fear of drivers – specifically reckless ones.
Some readers may be ambivalent about the police. But if the cops were actively citing more of the reckless drivers their attitude might shift.
I agree with you that more enforcement is needed; however, the “budget shift” has already happened as PPB gets the lions share of the general fund while PBOT gets scraps.
There’s a thing, drivers hit fixed objects so the objects are removed. This is confusing. Are the objects not there to be hit? The drivers are the offenders, extract them from the cars and remove their keys and their licenses.
Double down on the obstacles!
On monday after dark, as I rode east on ankney approaching the rainbow and seats, i saw a person lying on the ground being attended by emt’s, a car askew in the intersection and a bike with it’s lights still on 20 feet away from the person down and a cop quietly listening to the driver try and talk their way out of running a stop sign and striking someone. Im a driver and a biker. We can all do better. Thanks Jonathan for keep ing the conversation going.
Last week a nine-year-old boy was hit by a negligent driver in a crosswalk with flashing lights activated, and sustained life-threatening injuries. Last I read, he’s stable now but his life will be forever changed. The driver got nothing more than a “have a better day” from the cop and permission to drive off and cause more harm.
I am not optimistic about anything changing. The state, city, county, and every other organization in charge of streets and roads are all broke, and at any rate, refuse to make the political sacrifices necessary for life-saving infrastructure. The Feds are pretty much pro car-violence now (as if they weren’t before). Perhaps if PBOT had the courage to piss off some car dealership owners and narrow 122nd, that little boy and his family wouldn’t have had their whole world turned upside down.
On the enforcement side, PPB won’t pull people over because they got their feelings hurt; and at any rate, they are all carbrains anyway. Even if they aren’t driving in from Camas or Battleground, they are still spending all day in a McSUV, playing on their computers while they drive around. PBOT has been absolutely anemic in the rollout of speed and red light cameras, and now they’re turned off for another month plus.
As we saw with the snafu around the transportation funding bill, there’s no way the state legislature could get their shit together to craft a legal response to reckless driving that would dole out consequences commensurate to the harm that willfully negligent drivers cause when they fail to regulate their emotions.
It really is not going to get better. Best we can do is keep our eyes and ears open, and keep our heads on a swivel.
“Best we can do is keep our eyes and ears open, and keep our heads on a swivel.”
Great point! I neglected to mention this in my very rambling account. This was definitely a wake-up call to not have headphones in. Being able to hear the commotion effectively kept me out of the hospital/morgue. Stay alert out there!
I hope you’re not right about the rest, but I think I agree. And it’s hard not to feel pessimistic. That was not an act of God what happened to that nine-year old, but a collective apathy and ineffectiveness at all levels. It’s unacceptable and tragic.
I’m trying to (usually not that successfully) be less cynical with all of the non-stop discussing and planning, and disingenuous vague promises by the various professionals and decision-makers. They don’t really seem to have skin in the game so why assume they would genuinely care?
But change will, one way or another, happen. The area I’m hopeful in is that I think individually and collectively–via direct democracy/action–we can have measurable small influences and if done effectively and pro-socially, be “contagious”. Seeing fellow bike commuters, joggers and nearby business-people show up, ready to help was really affirming. Humans looking out for humans. That experience of caring people looking out for one another, shifted my outlook at least for the day.
I have zero ideas myself but I think it would help me (maybe us?) feel less disempowered–less cynical–if there were physical/tangible things could actually work on(repairing pot holes, cleaning bike lanes, flagging intersections, building bikes to give to people, etc). I’m ashamed I rarely actually get my hands dirty. We shouldn’t have to do these things, but it’s not realistic right now to be holding our breath for ODOT/PBOT/PPB, etc. to change their pace or behavior. Writing form letters to representatives or donating money to whichever non-profit doesn’t feel like much of anything but a pressure valve for us to exonerate responsibility.
Anyways…Rambling again…Thanks for your thoughts!
Head Swively yours, Andy
Andy,
I have been commuting down Interstate Ave since 2008- basically all the routes form North Portland funnel riders down to the Interstate Bike Lanes between Greeley and the Moda Center. This is a critical segment of the bike network, but it is HORRIBLE. The lanes are super narrow, there is only a sidewalk on one side of the road for most this segment. I often wonder what tangible thing could be done now to make a difference. I have tons of ideas of you to redesign things, but it was only in the last 6 months or so that I had the following realization: This shared R/W does not HAVE to prioritize people driving. PBOT could head out tomorrow and paint a 6′ sidewalk on the right side of the pavement and 6′ bike lane next to that. There would not be enough space for a full driving lane, so some cautionary paint and signs would need to added to warn drivers to slow down and yield to pedestrians and cyclists. Just imagine our City if PBOT actually, really, truly prioritized pedestrians. Instead of closing crosswalks, they painted zebra crossings. Where there is not space for a sidewalk and full driving lane, the sidewalk goes in the the cars are told to accommodate.
Very disturbing. I hope this driver is not inconvenienced. The good news is that he will probably need to buy a new car and may have higher insurance premiums. This will maintain the positive flow of economic resources out of our local economy, maximizing the concentration of capital and wealth disparities. Fortunately, our taxes will go repair all of the damage he caused to further facilitate the extraction of monetary wealth and quality of life from Portlanders. Should we lower the driving age to 14 or just stop requiring driver’s licenses? All this over-regulation is surely bad for the economy.
Maybe the benevolent and enlightened president can send Portland some surplus national guard or army soldiers to enforce traffic safety laws in the city, including negligent drivers, bicyclists who run red lights and stop signs, and pedestrians who cross against the lights? It looks like a war zone out there…
It’s like freakin’ WWII, man. Antifa hellfire everywhere!
Heck, yeah! Then after a couple of weeks of better traffic enforcement, Jonathan can write a blistering article about how the federalized road safety troops are somehow trampling on the dignity of some oppressed groups and exacerbating the situation in Gaza. After all, that is the Portland way.
This is not the same driver (or at least not the same car) that scary passed me going N bound on SE Milwaukie as I was driving the 25 mph speed limit just two weeks ago. They also passed another car driver many blocks ahead of me. Only for all of us to gather at the light at SE Powell. In my case it was a middle aged white guy driving the car. I think that’s the thing — these aren’t one-off stories, but they are stories that all of us can share that happened yesterday, last month, last week.
I really think cars should be banned in many areas of Portland because they are deadly weapons and not treated as such. We are no co-existing safely AT ALL.
Ah yes, Portland — where the traffic division was axed, then half-heartedly revived, the speed cameras are offline, and the only thing moving fast is City Council’s next resolution about Gaza or a fresh hot take on Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, back on our streets, drivers are turning bike lanes into bumper car tracks and sidewalks into shortcuts. Actual enforcement? Nah. We’ve apparently decided that talking about safety is the same as doing something about it.
Lower speed limits, no enforcement, no cameras, and a City Council more focused on foreign policy than the SUV currently airborne over the curb on SE Milwaukie.
At this rate, bollards and dumb luck are the last line of defense.
You’re a Ben Garrison political cartoon pretending to be a bike Portland commenter.
Ah yes, the classic Portland move: express frustration about basic public safety, immediately get sorted into the “MAGA cartoon villain” bucket. Next stop: someone accuses me of owning a lifted truck and a backyard smoker named “Freedom.”
Relax, John. Wanting speed limits with enforcement doesn’t make me a far-right caricature — it just means I’d prefer not to play “Frogger” every time I cross SE Division. I’m not storming the Capitol; I just want my sidewalk back.
You defend the Status Quo in Portland like you are a city councilor.
Progressives that want No Change is your mantra.
Does not matter how bad things are (you are responding to an article about a terrible auto threat), you can’t stop your trite arguments.
You are the poster child of conservative thinking.
Yes, I want to keep things the same. And by that I mean end fossil fuel dependence, end reliance on automobiles, bring democracy to our not very democratic country, open borders, and generally anything to chip away at capitalism in the long run. Exactly the way things are today.
You must be thinking of someone else.
This looks like a great location for some bollards
i rode across the Sellwood Bridge this morning.An eastbound truck managed to trigger a flashing “47” on the speed camera at the east end of the bridge. The 30 mph limit on the bridge changes to 25 mph.
Until the PPB decides to start doing traffic enforcement again and that driver gets a fine of $1000, expect more of the same.
Sounds like a great spot for a speed camera. I think we should have them on every bridge (and many other locations).
“Until the PPB decides to start doing traffic enforcement again…”
Let me fix this for you mate… “until Portland leaders and voters decide to fully restore the PPB traffic unit, adequately staff the PPB and stop the “police are evil” and “enforcement is racist” diatribes that we frequently hear…expect more of the same”.
JM, you prominently quote Andy F., who states that “cars are increasingly careening into places they don’t belong”. Is it true that car-related violence is increasing?
I ask this sincerely. Any is too much, PBOT Vision Zero work has been weak tea at best, and I appreciate your work showing how important it is to dramatically reduce the damage to life, limb, and infrastructure. It’s just that I scanned the article for data to back up the claim and didn’t see any.
Everyone has their own anecdotes or sense of things, and mine is that things got worse during and post-pandemic, but have leveled off or gotten a bit better in the last year or two.
I bet if you asked the traffic engineers that designed Milwaukie/Gideon from Powell to Divison they would have described creating “efficient through-fares” that reduce traffic and so on. These types of “efficiencies” like we saw on the Hawthorne bridge bike-lane snafu this summer are designed to help cars move as quickly as possible–though the speed limit will be posted much lower. That stretch of Milwaukie between Powell and Division connects two neighborhoods. There is no need for cars to be able to go 30, 40, or maximum speed through this area.
I live in SE and ride to work in inner NE. I ride this path along Gideon starting at 17th and Haig, connect to the esplanade and ride up Williams just a few blocks. I feel lucky that I get to have such a “car-free” commute. Then occasions like this are a stark reminder that “car-free” commuting in Portland is anything but. Just as PBOT parks full-size Tacoma pickups on the Esplanade while bullshitting with the firefighters or picking up trash. I’m glad no one was seriously hurt.
Anyone know who pays for the repair of the infrastructure? Seems the options are:
1. All of us via our taxes
2. The driver’s insurance company. And, if this is the answer, who pays if they don’t have insurance. All of us via taxes?
3. The driver out of their pocket
4. Other?
Probably TriMet, so most of the bill is on all of us out of our payroll taxes and a small portion is with bus and MAX riders.
I had to cruise past today to visualize where the impact was, since it’s all concrete and fencing there. It’s the center one, which if you look at a straight line up milwaukie makes sense. Damn.
There’s a lot of issues listed in the comments here, but the real one is that cars are completely unregulated in terms of power and speed. Based on some suggested laws, you can’t legally possess an ebike with 1hp but you can have a 1000 hp car that can do 200mph on milwaukie and not break a single rule until you do it. It’s untenable, and unsustainable.
“you can’t legally possess an ebike with 1hp but you can have a 1000 hp car”
Of course you need a license to drive that car, it has to be registered with the state, and you need to maintain liability insurance to pay for any damage you cause. E-bikes have none of those requirements so it makes sense that their capabilities are more limited.
If you want more 2-wheeled power, get an electric motorcycle, which is like an e-bike with way more than 1hp. Perfectly legal to possess if you do the paperwork.