I’ve visited many fatal crash sites over the years, but the one where 68-year-old Rutilo Jorge was hit and killed one week ago may be the scariest yet. I had never biked on Highway 43 south of the Sellwood Bridge before Saturday, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I rolled up and saw the horrible conditions, a chill raced through my body as I nervously pedaled to reach the safe harbor of a residential driveway where I could take a breath and gather my thoughts.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO, the lead agency because it happened just outside Portland city boundary) says Jorge was hit around 5:30 pm. According to their statement, Jorge was riding southbound just north of South Radcliffe Road. That location is just under one mile from the Sellwood Bridge and has a 45 mph speed limit; but people often go much faster because there are no cross streets or visual or physical obstructions. Adding to the danger is the fact that it happened around 5:30 pm, so imagine what my video and photos would look like in the dark.
The only sign of a collision I could see on Saturday was the white spray-painted outline of a car’s wheel track that veered into dirt and pine needles that stand several inches thick almost all the way up to the fog line (see photos below). There are several large, sharp rocks in the shoulder. MCSO says they have reason to believe Jorge hit one of those rocks prior to the collision. Jorge, “lost control of his bike after potentially hitting a rock on the shoulder of the roadway, fell, and was then struck by an SUV traveling south,” the MCSO statement says.
Oregon’s bicycle passing law (ORS 811.065) states that if a driver overtakes a bicycle rider on a highway without a bike lane and with a speed limit over 35 mph (both conditions met in this case), they must give the bicycle rider enough room so when they pass there is space, “sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic.” MCSO has made contact with the driver and they have not announced any traffic citations or criminal charges in the case. Once they’ve completed their investigation, they’ll hand it off to the District Attorney’s office and that’s where decisions about any charges will be made.
While I was out there on Sunday, I was overcome with frustration, fear and sadness. Drivers flew by so fast that leaves in the shoulder flew off the ground and I worried my bike would blow over. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like on that dark night.
I know a lot of folks will wonder why Jorge would ever be on this stretch of road at that time of day. But let’s remember that we don’t know what he was going through or why he made that choice. When Martin Greenough was hit and killed while biking on a scary stretch of NE Lombard that had a gap in the bike lane in 2015, many people wondered why he put himself in that position. We learned later that he was new to town and likely had no idea what he was getting into until it was too late.
As I demonstrate in the video, if the gate into River View Cemetery was closed at dusk (which has been common lately), Jorge might have felt he had no other choice but to take the highway. And if it was his first time, he might have pointed his bike south at the Sellwood Bridge, where there’s a wide and smooth shoulder. By the time he realized how narrow and sketchy the shoulder had become, he might have already committed and was just hoping and praying he could make it through safely.
I’ve been in that position myself many times. And I’m sure many of you have been too. No one deserves to die in those situations.
This gap in our system cannot stand. Regardless of how dangerous it is, it’s legal to ride on Highway 43 and plenty of people do it. It’s also currently the only feasible way for bike riders to get between the Sellwood Bridge and the Dunthorpe/Lake Oswego area when the cemetery gate is closed. And with River View’s board growing tired of the legal burden that comes with public access through their private property, we might be forced to find alternate routes sooner than we think.
I know there have been studies and discussions about building a multimodal connection in the past — either along the river and trolley rail right-of-way, a new bridge, or on the highway itself. I can only hope this human sacrifice is enough to dust off those plans and begin those conversations anew.
Thanks for reading.
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WHO OWNS / OPERATES THIS CATASTROPHE?
ODOT ? MULTCO ? PBOT ?
It’s a state highway controlled by ODOT.
However the surrounding land and streets belong to Multnomah County but the land use is controlled by the City of Portland on behalf of the county – the city even has a street master plan for the area.
I wonder whether it would be worth adding some sort of wayfinding/warning signs to prevent people from getting stuck biking in a situation they didn’t realize would be as dangerous as it is. Maybe for all segments labeled “Difficult Connection” on http://portlandbikemap.com/. Doing so seems relatively cheap and easy.
Informative and empathetic. I have ridden that route a few times, very scary.
Thank you for documenting these conditions, that does look scary.
Thank you, Jonathan, for spending the time to show us what this space is like. Having watched the video, I can imagine seeing that shoulder at the Sellwood Bridge, believing it’s a reasonable southbound route, and then getting stuck partway with no easy way to turn off or turn back, once the rider reaches the place where the shoulder fills with debris.
You may be correct about the driver violating Oregon’s bicycle passing law (ORS 811.065). But I wonder how many drivers know about that law. Not to suggest that absolves them of being bound by it, but to underscore that laws are meaningless if they’re on the books but nobody knows about them. When I lived in San Francisco, it seemed like the question of how to curb your wheels when parallel parking on a hill was ALWAYS on the written test for a driver’s license. What are the chances that most drivers ever learn about or are asked to remember laws like ORS 811.065 *before* they start driving on our roads?
I will note that, although I am keenly aware of the problems with PBOT relying on the private River View Cemetery to provide bicycle access, I’m not sure that lack of access to the Cemetery route would have pushed this bicyclists to this route. I say that only because once one comes out at the top of the Cemetery, there is no easy, reasonable route for getting to Lake Oswego. As you note, Trimet does have a bus line on Highway 43 but no safe place for someone to wait for the bus. All of this is evidence of the expectation that everyone is just going to be driving in a motor vehicle, and that our electeds do not think we need safe alternatives to the dangers of motor vehicle culture.
This is why I firmly believe Oregon needs to repeal the existing bicycle passing law and simply add bicycle riders (or “vulnerable roadway users”) to the list of things folks are required to move over for. Oregon’s “Move Over Law” is very well-known and all we need to do is add bicycle riders to police, first responders, and broken down car users. I think that would be a great way to address this problem.
I can’t see a proposal to extend the move over law to all vulnerable users getting anywhere even if the vulnerability issues are similar. It’s not workable, for multiple reasons, and if it somehow got forced through, my expectation is compliance would be poor — you can’t legislate away reality.
I have no idea of what kind of cyclist Jorge was, but I’d guess he was experienced one who knew what he was doing like others who ride roads in all conditions. It’s hard to ride far without dealing with stretches of road with this level of difficulty.
Most people don’t care about cyclists and/or think we’re crazy. Given that even primo infrastructure is lightly used at rush hour when the weather is good, I also wouldn’t bet on widespread deployment of new costly heat absorbing, drainage interfering infrastructure.
But they might be convinced to support wider shoulders or a breakdown lane for emergencies, and that much provides the lion’s share of the benefit.
I don’t really agree that a lack of knowledge of traffic laws is the reason for the unsafe driving we see on our streets. When I go sit outside the deli across the street from my house less than half of the drivers come to a stop at the stop sign, and if you drive the speed limit you will be passed by people travelling far faster, but clearly all drivers are aware of the concept of stop signs and speed limits.
The big problem with the safe passing law is that it doesn’t apply at all times, largely due to a lobbying effort by trimet because they didn’t want their drivers to be required to leave a safe distance.
The point of that law, like most traffic laws, is to assign responsibility and blame after a crash occurs. Drivers don’t need to know about ORS 811.065 they need to know that it’s not safe to pass that closely. This road isn’t so busy that it’s difficult to change to the other lane and give enough space to pass safely. Drivers passing too closely here are, more often than not, doing it out of complacency and ignorance.
The problem is most drivers don’t understand how dangerous their actions are not that they’re ignorant of the traffic laws.
I think it would be super helpful if there are any lawyers out there who understand how the safe passing rule is interpreted if they could explain specifically what the law requires drivers to do in the situation highlighted by Jonathan.
Yes! It comes up often, and the stakes are high. I also don’t think law enforcement people have consistently correct interpretations of it (not sure if they all even know it exists)–and that goes double (or 10x) for drivers. That makes it more important for people to be able to advocate knowledgeably for themselves and others. The expert legal opinions here are always among my favorite topics.
Such an informative post. Unfortunately due to an extremely sad situation. Cleaning up that shoulder and building some sort of barricade for a bike lane would be so helpful!
The number of people passing you too closely in this video alone is wild. A lot of them even have an empty lane to move into to give you more space.