I’m sure you’ve noticed how the mix of vehicles using bike lanes has changed in recent years. And I’m not talking about cars. I’m talking about all the different types of electric bikes, e-motos, gas-powered mini-bikes, one-wheels, electric unicycles (EUCs), and so on.
What I hear about these vehicles are usually complaints and concerns about the dangers (and annoyances) they pose to more traditional bike riders. Fortunately I haven’t heard about any bike (or e-bike) riders getting seriously hurt (or worse) in collisions with them. Unfortunately there was a fatal collision between a mini-moto rider and an e-scooter rider earlier this month. And while it didn’t involve a bike rider, it did happen in a bike lane and it speaks to the growing number of non-bike vehicles that use them.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, 66-year-old Stephen W. Hicks was riding what officers referred to as a, “gasoline powered mini motorcycle” northbound in the SE 122nd Avenue bike lane. Around the intersection with SE Tibbetts, another man riding an e-scooter was headed southbound (against traffic) in the same bike lane. The two riders collided and Hicks died at the scene. The e-scooter rider sustained non life-threatening injuries. (Both men were wearing helmets.)
I share this case here for several reasons: It’s of a cautionary tale of what’s to come as the vehicle mix on our roads continues to diversify and it shows why we need more space on major arterials like SE 122nd for vehicles that aren’t cars. For many years now, myself and other folks in local transportation reform circles have talked about re-framing “bike lanes” into something more expansive — something that captures a wider range of vehicles. I like “LIV lanes” where LIV is said as “live” with a short “i” sound and stands for low-impact vehicle. I’ve also heard “LIT lanes” where LIT stands for low-impact transportation.
It’s time to embrace the fact that there’s a wider range of two (and even one!)-wheeled vehicles out there and our lane designs should reflect that as much as possible. Or maybe you see this tragic collision as an anomaly and a result of someone who was simply riding where they shouldn’t be?
I’m curious what you think.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
I recently was in an accident that involved an e-scooter who was going the wrong way in the bike lane on 122nd and SE Clinton. I was at a stop sign turning onto 122nd and he ran into me as I was turning. There was also a food cart sign that was positioned on the corner that completely block the view in that direction as well, which isn’t permitted of course. Now he has lawyered up and who knows where that will go. I think the city or someone needs to be held accountable for lack of enforcement (going the wrong way), not wearing a helmet and now drivers are being blamed for this negligent behavior. I completely agree that 122nd is a death trap, there was a 9 yr old killed riding an e-scooter on 122nd SE Lincoln in September 2025 and then the recent death in this story and what is being done to improve safety and compliance with these modes of transportation sharing the road/lanes? I would love to get involved in making something happen or advocating with a group to get to a better solution and stop this risky behavior and stop people getting killed either on the scooter or involved with an escooter.
Just a small correction; the kid who was hit in September did survive but with some very serious, life-changing injuries.
Sadness to hear of this tragic and avoidable incident.
If anyone has access to this crash report, I would be professionally curious if the unique aspect of a ‘head-on’ ** type crash between two vulnerable roadway users contributed to the fatality along with higher speeds: was it a ‘face to face’ impact by which one of the helmeted riders helmet hit the full face of the other? **It made me think back to a similar head-on crash between two bike commuters on the Janzen Beach shared use path (either by Taco Bell or old Safeway location – back in mid 2000s)…no one died in that crash event but the friend involved had months of facial reconstruction surgery and recovery. Their face basically got rammed by the shorter cyclist’s helmet.
I’ve seen mini motorcycles that are just that, shrunken lower powered copies of street legal motorcycles. The bare fact that Mr. Hicks died makes me wonder if he was riding something else, a bike with a rack mounted friction drive 2 stroke motor. I hate those things because of the noise and the dirty exhaust but I also know that people apparently love them.
I’m inclined to be more charitable, without condescension, in death. I mean, the guy was obviously vulnerable, and he died. RIP. I’d put up a ghost bike for him.
Many mini motorcycles are also akin to throttle powered ebikes; only the fuel source and ability to pedal differs.
Your story doesn’t make clear which person was going the wrong way in the bike lane (or LIV lane).
I mostly don’t care who uses the lane as long as they do so consistently and follow the rules, though we’re going to need special rules for high-powered e-bikes. This very morning I was almost run over by a Rad bike going 25-30 mph.
I get so frustrated by people going the wrong way in bike lanes. I kind of understand why they do it; if you’re walking on a road with no sidewalks, it is safer to walk on the left side, where you can see oncoming traffic. People apply the same logic to riding a bike/scooter or whatever, but it is so much more dangerous because of the speed differential between someone walking or someone riding a bike, even at relatively low speeds.
I don’t know how to fix it. Maybe in the long term having education programs in elementary and middle schools, in the short term educational ads? IDK. I always want to stop and talk some sense into the (usually e-scooter) riders going the wrong way, but there’s no way a cyclist mansplaining how to ride would be received.
Fred,
I think it is clear, but sorry if it wasn’t for you. The scooter rider was going the wrong way (southbound) in the bike lane.
Thanks. I don’t know this area at all, and adding the directions doesn’t help me b/c I assume there are bike (LIV) lanes on both sides of the street.
Seems pretty clear to me. The e-scooter was going the wrong way and the man who died on the motorized bike was going the right way.
Rad Power Bikes bikes are limited to 20mph unless going down a big hill. They are not “high powered ebikes”, they do not have an “off road” mode like some other brands.Maybe you just refer to any 20 inch fat tire bike as a Rad bike?
Rad made class 3 ebikes, for example: Radster™ Trail Electric Off-Road Bike
“The Radster Trail is an electric off-road bike with the power to do anything, and the range to go anywhere. The 100 Nm motor makes quick work of hills, the 28 mph top speed promises fast-paced fun, and with two frame sizes for a personalized fit, it’s so comfortable that you’ll barely feel like you’re roughing it.”
Older class 2 Rad bikes have a class 3 mode that can be activated by taping one cable pin (~10 seconds of effort; also LOL).
Newer ones can be hacked by buying a cheap 3rd party bluetooth-connected controller (~10 seconds to order and ~ 2 minutes to install).
I think that vehicles that go more than 20 MPH without human power don’t belong in bike lanes. Many of these vehicles should be sharing the general travel lanes where they can follow the speed limit on nearly 100% of the streets in the city.
It probably needs to be just a 20mph limit for anything in the bike lane to have any chance of being enforced (which it probably wouldn’t anyway). Maybe anything with a motor would work. Even though those can be pretty stealthy.
Yes! If travelling above 20 MPH people should just get in the motor vehicle lane! I have an Ebike that my girlfriend rides on the back of, with the both of us I cruise it around at 15 MPH, but with just me on it it can go 30 MPH, and I do that when I’m short on time, on Division, and Hawthorne, and burnside, and 50th… NOT on the springwater, or any other path or bike lane.
The 20 mph speed limit is pure fantasy. Going only 20 on any major street is between atheist-prayer-inducing and suicidal. We need bankruptcy-risking fines and actual enforcement on wrong-way riding. I agree that 20 is insane on many bike lanes but not on others, such as Division or Portland Blvd.
I feel that. Something is needed for sure. In the US a person who has income, assets or insurance is in a car already. They are not generally out riding the wrong way on a scooter.
A person on a scooter is mostly out there because it’s cheap, quick and beneath the notice of law enforcement unless you have just committed a violent crime.
Financial penalties won’t reduce traffic law violations by people who have nothing to lose. Some things that might help:
*Immediate confiscation of the vehicle for a short list of flagrant violations.
*Ample infrastructure city wide that encourages light vehicle use.
*Induced demand for ridership on those facilities to increase social pressure to drive safely.
Unfortunately, every time I bike in east Portland bike lanes, I have to navigate obstacles presented by cars parking in bike facilities, debris discarded in bike facilities, people transporting carts full of goods in bike facilities, and people traveling the wrong way or at excessive speeds on all manner of transportation devices. It just goes with the territory. Rarely do these obstacles feel like the most hazardous things that I interact with on a ride (people traveling in cars are way scarier), but they definitely add an element of risk that is less frequently encountered in other parts of the city.
This is such an accurate representation of the East Portland bicycling experience. Add in the aggressive SUV with customer rims and bald tires and the guy with 30 busted up cars spilling out of his yard across the sidewalk and bike lane.
Gron, we absolutely live in a different city than the rest of Portland. This summer will be 9 years for me and sometimes it feels harder now than that first year with the shock of no longer living close in. I don’t always mind being out here but then there are days (like today actually!) that I think I’m absolutely gonna do an outer SE Portland version of Falling Down.
122nd is such a deathtrap. It needs to be redone ASAP. Riding the wrong way is a dumb mistake, but we all make dumb mistakes and dumb mistakes shouldn’t be fatal.
Those streets are so wide, and dangerous to cross, that people usually go the wrong way if they’re within a block or two of their destination, rather than hazard a crossing. I think a lot of people also just go the wrong way because it’s easier. There really needs to be two way bike lanes on both sides of streets of this size.
I am empathetic to that, though I usually opt to ride on the sidewalk in those situations.
Sadly only building 2 way bike lanes may make it even more dangerous vs one way bike lanes. Think of all those persons with e-bike moto whatever instead of passing you on both sides without a bell honk or howdy instead traveling towards you thus now a collision is at twice the impact speed.
Maybe dumb mistakes shouldn’t be fatal but when the dumb mistake is riding the wrong way we’re pleading with physics. That particular kind of dumb mistake gives you a closing speed and collision speed (roughly) twice your own speed. It’s a really bad mistake! It sounds like the guy riding the wrong way wasn’t the one who died. If the mistake shouldn’t be fatal, who can we look at that should have done something different? As cyclists we can say: we shouldn’t be making the kinds of dumb mistakes that could cost others their lives. When a cyclist runs a red light and hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk we rightly say that’s recklessness. Riding the wrong way down a bike lane is no different, maybe worse because of the potential for such high-speed crashes. It’s something we can all condemn in the harshest terms.
Maybe a better bike lane could make room for wrong-way riders to make their mistakes with less consequence, but… the one time I saw a wrong-way rider cause a crash it was on a popular “parking-protected” lane in a relatively bike-friendly part of Seattle (the crash destroyed the other guy’s bike but incredibly he didn’t seem to suffer any bodily injury). Even with space for people to get around each other, with that kind of closing speed and no clear procedure, the two might just choose to juke the same direction and have no time to correct the error.
A wider bike lane could give both riders better options to evade, better lighting to make sure they see each other, and better education to make sure people are making these mistakes in the first place.
In the really bad crash on the Sellwood Bridge, I think one rider was following the paint markings on the pavement and one was riding to his right, but against the flow of traffic on that side of the bridge. There may have been a pedestrian somewhere, but not so many that one rider could not hug the wall. If the opposing rider is not using what I think are the rules it’s better for me to bail out to the right, and even stop against a barrier, than to take a head on crash. Above all no juking, because your opposing rider has already abandoned the system and all you can do is take away one option and slow down.
Better Naito is a bidirectional bike lane. Sometimes it’s a bit dicey, but generally it’s ok, especially when no one else is using it, which is most of the time.
Yeah dw, it’s been like that my entire life. There is a plan to redesign 122nd. It feels a bit like the ugly stepchild of 82nd, and gets as much attention. Generally, it’s okish, but nothing much to write home about. Technically, the bike lanes will be “protected” north of Powell primarily in the way that outer Division is protected but immediately adjacent to cars on the North side. South of Powell, instead of a protected bike lane so kids can use it, it’ll be a mix of buffered and standard bike lanes to accommodate parking and some trees in the 30′ median. I can’t imagine kids riding anywhere but the sidewalk on 90% of it, so I guess it’s another generation until 122nd is usable.
I agree the current plan is very disappointing, especially considering the number of kids who have to cross or travel on 122nd to get to the various DDSD schools. I would be happy with the same treatments as Division over what it is today though.
At the very least, they need speed and red light cameras everywhere.
The painted bike lanes do have arrows for the correct direction, but I can sorta understand the thinking of the scooter user whose destination still needs to be identified – 122nd is a huge wide busy stroad that as others have said is a deathtrap – and it really boils down to 4 really horrible choices:
Ride on the sidewalk with cars blocking at several drivewaysRide southbound in the northbound bike lane against trafficRide correctly in the southbound bike lane but must cross 5 lanes of dangerous fast traffic to get thereTake a parallel street 5 block away on 117th/119th which has no shoulder nor sidewalks and equally nasty drivers plus jogs on major stroadsI’d say this crash was inevitable given the design of 122nd, it was just a matter of time.
So much for formatting on Bike Portland – there were supposed to be 4 bullet points.
The painted bike lanes do have arrows for the correct direction, but I can sorta understand the thinking of the scooter user whose destination still needs to be identified – 122nd is a huge wide busy stroad that as others have said is a deathtrap – and it really boils down to 4 really horrible choices:
_ Ride on the sidewalk with cars blocking at several driveways.
_ Ride southbound in the northbound bike lane against traffic.
_ Ride correctly in the southbound bike lane but must cross 5 lanes of dangerous fast traffic to get there.
_ Take a parallel street 5 block away on 117th/119th which has no shoulder nor sidewalks and equally nasty drivers plus jogs on major stroads.
I’d say this crash was inevitable given the design of 122nd, it was just a matter of time.
The scooters have stickers saying not to ride them on the sidewalk too
We should welcome all kinds of Low-impact Transportation devices in bike lanes and multi-use paths, but there should be a speed limit. 20+ miles-per-hour doesn’t mix well with slower vehicles. And all road users should know and follow the rules of the road, such as going in the right direction.
I think e-bikes should be limited to 20mph and scooter (or at least rental scooters) limited to something like 12mph due to the tiny little tires and inherent instability.
I can live with a speed limit, but I tend to focus on the closing speed, and this was the worst case. In a head on even two vehicles going 3 mph will put everyone on the ground, and we’ve had at least two head on light vehicle crashes in Portland, with serious injuries and now a death.
If I’m encountering a person traveling opposite and their body language is ambiguous, I either take the lane, if it is clear, or park it right there. I have to say, advantage front loader cargo bike.
More folks in more places than just “local [PDX] transportation reform circles have talked about re-framing “bike lanes” into something more expansive. . . .”
i surprised people think it’s okay for these motor-cycles to take over the bike lanes.
We’ve essentially had motorized cycles going fast in the bike lane for a while now, and most people are perfectly happy with it as long as we call them “e-bikes”.
I remember traveling a decade or two ago in several cities in the Netherlands, both large and small, and seeing many motorcycles and mopeds using the red bike lanes and cycle tracks there. In the larger cities, stroads like 122nd would have fully-protected two-way bike lanes on both sides of the street and no car parking, and every significant intersection had protected corners and either signals or roundabouts. I have no idea how the locals felt about sharing the bikeways with such users, but there were signs indicating that the moped users at least were required to use the bike lanes. (It was extremely rare to see a bicyclist using a 4-lane arterial stroad in the Netherlands – I suspect it may be illegal there. The Netherlands had plenty of 4 and even 6-lane stroads.)
….I guess now bike lanes can claim a ‘rightful’ share of the gas tax
I can’t even begin to understand why a fatality caused by someone being astoundingly and willfully stupid would cause some to think we need to remake the bike lanes or enact new laws.
I live blocks away from this and behavior like this is par for the course. Pedestrians will cross 122nd 20’ from a sidewalk because they don’t want to walk further to make the crossing. Not to mention all the dumb bike stuff.
An inconvenient truth is here is that I have observed zero enforcement of the rules that exist. Portland’s police officer per capita level is about half that of a normal major city, and they have to prioritize serious crime over these more minor infractions. The traffic division was disbanded in early Covid to which many people rejoiced. At one point does a semblance of consequence for breaking the rules seem like a good idea to people? Or am I thinking of this wrong, and the problem is that we still have not defunded and neutered our police force enough?
Lol, what a screed. “People deserve to die and there need to be a billion cops!!”
I can’t and won’t defend all of Zach’s comment but for real, ped and bike guy behavior out here is wild. I’m amazed more peds and bikers aren’t killed. I am definitely typing with a certain segment of peds and bike riders in mind.
We havent defunded the PPB at all. Only one year did they swe their budget get cut, and it was a city wide budget cut so it wasnt even directed at the PPB. They continue to get more and more money every year.
They also are heavily militarized, so not sure how they have been defanged.
The real solution is the re-engineering of the streets, so yes, I believe you are thinking of this wrong.
“I live blocks away from this and behavior like this is par for the course. ”
Sounds like we need to remake the bike lanes or enact new laws.
This crash, with injuries and death, is sobering and should move people to action. I’ve encountered scooters, motor chairs, etc going the wrong direction on N Williams which a long way west of 122nd. Those meetings have to be managed and they’re at least annoying every time.
There’s a different takeaway from these events if a person can see it. All these events represent an unmet need, a desire, for quick handy personal transportation that is not a car. There’s danger involved but ultimately those people are in our camp.
In Bend, in the Winter when the bike lanes are full of gravel, I see many of the alternative devices (e-bikes, scooters, one-wheelers, etc.) using the sidewalks at ~20 mph. I am a pedestrian in town (not safe to ride a bike), so I would say that I have at least two of these devices coming at me directly every time I walk on the sidewalk. Their SOP is to take a driveway off the sidewalk back into the bike lane to avoid me. Of course, they do not want to have a collision, but it definitely is pretty dicey. Off topic, but we had two significant bike incidents this week: one was a kid on a bike going to school and he was hit by a car from the side in a rotary, hit and run but she was caught the next day. The kid only received moderate injuries whatever that means. The second one is tragic. A young doctor commuting from work was hit by a driver who ran a red light and he had already entered the intersection she was so late. He is hanging on to life. This is in a small city where bike commuting is pretty much an afterthought. You see just a tiny number of bikes parked at schools and local businesses. The City is very good about requiring bike parking at all new construction. I would say the usage of these slots is somewhere in the less than 5% range. It is one of the biggest ‘cycling’ cities in the country, which means tens of thousands of people ride recreationally (which now means almost entirely off-road), but almost none of those accomplished riders would think to use them in town. Sad state of affairs, and this is a relatively compact city, with a decent bike lane infrastructure and a City that genuine cares about cyclists. None of that matters if there are too many drivers, going too fast, and not paying attention.
rotary? Or did you mean roundabout or traffic circle? I did not think Bend had any old skool Joan of Arc type intersections
Looking on Google Maps and sometimes Street View, Bend has a huge number of modern roundabouts and some traffic circles all over town but particularly in the suburbs, and at least 5 true multi-lane rotaries (larger roundabouts with passing lanes) on the the north side of town, at least 3 of which are on US 20. Compared to what is in Bend (and Boston for that matter), what is at Glisan and Chavez and Ladd’s are designed as rotaries, but PBOT isn’t allowing to function as such – there is space for more lanes on the rotaries to allow for passing in the rotary but the city only put in enough lanes (one) for a basic roundabout.
Thank you Steve Scarich for mentioning Bend – now I can cite it when dealing with our very conservative pro-car traffic engineers here in Greensboro NC – most of what we have here in NC are basic roundabouts but no actual rotaries.
You should travel to Bend then as they and neighboring communities have lots of round-abouts.
So… is the wrong-way rider at least being cited?
Well, it would be a bit hypocritical to do so, since they don’t bother with drivers.
Jonathan, you mention the mix of one- and two-wheeled vehicles in the LIV/LIT lanes, but fail to mention wider three-wheel and maybe soon (via Honda) four-wheel pedal-assisted vehicles.
If a car maker builds an e-assisted pedal thingy it’s going to be grossly over powered for bike infrastructure. See: Rivian.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canta_(vehicle)
Some of these LIV have three and even four wheels!
This is a case of two wrongs don’t make a right. First the scooter rider going the wrong direction in the bike lane. Second the person on the mini-motorcycle. By Oregon law there are only to be ridden on private property.
(see attached image)
More like a case of hundreds of millions of wrongs creating a transportation system designed to kill, to spew air toxics, and to destroy our shared environment.
Our streets are not safe, nor will they ever be. Adding a motorcycle endorsement to your license requires critical thinking and real life training by professionals. Please teach your children and loved ones how to survive, be defensive and find alternatives from streets/paths with shared motorized(assist) vehicles. I won’t ever trust a human on an assist vehicle(car/scoot/board/jetski/onewheel/hover blah blah blah…). Other than that, enjoy pedaling, not pretending!
With the exponential increase of potholes in the Portland Metro area, I have been wondering if it might be wise for the city to suspend scooter rental. The 12″ tires are simply too small for the potholes we face on a daily basis. Liability exposure for the injuries due to the lack of proper maintenance has to be significant.
I think these e-vehicles are a scourge and have no business being in a bike lane. I’m routinely getting buzzed at high speeds by riders of those vehicles with no warnings at all.
I think the city would rather remove the bike lane than just remove one lane of traffic for non-car traffic