🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
Streetsblog alerted us to this just-released training video for traffic enforcement officers in Chicago’s police department. It’s worth watching — in about ten minutes, it even-handedly explains the laws that govern both driving and bicycling in Chicago, with the frame of increasing bicycling safety as much as possible, and promoting a culture of respect on … Read more
Broadway and Flint.(Photo © J. Maus) A woman was handcuffed and placed under arrest this morning after she was stopped for running the stop sign at NE Flint and Broadway when she asked the police officer if she was required to show identification. She was subsequently issued a citation and released. Jessica Jarratt, 37, the … Read more
Robert Pickett.(Photo © J. Maus) So you’ve seen a nervous-looking young guy riding a too-small high-end racing bike down the street with shoes that definitely don’t match the clips. Or maybe you found a bike stashed behind your garage. Or your friend saw your long-lost steed locked to a pole downtown. What’s the right thing … Read more
Joe Scalise is a bike patrol officer in Charlotte, NC and the training coordinator for LEBA. (Photos © J. Maus) If the streets feel a bit safer this week, it’s because Portland is playing host to a Law Enforcement Bicycle Association (LEBA) training conference. The Portland Police Bureau is hosting LEBA for one of their … Read more
“It’s the latest fake viral film from our car-centric Danish Road Safety Council. Slowing chipping away at Danish bike culture without worrying about facts and science.”— Mikael Colville-Andersen, publisher of Copenhagenize.com Mikael Colville-Andersen, proprietor of the globally renown blog Copenhagenize, says a video of Danish cops handing out hugs and helmets to bike riders is … Read more
This video (below) from Denmark is all over the web today. It shows two cops standing on the side of a bike lane, offering hugs and helmets to passing bicycle riders.
At about 6:15 a.m. this morning, Portlander John Mayer was riding up on the intersection of SW 10th and Jefferson when he noticed a Portland Police Bureau patrol car parked in the bike lane. When Mayer pulled around the patrol car, he says the officer driving the car pulled out into the lane and ran … Read more
(Photo © J. Maus) The Portland Police Bureau sent three motorcycle cops to SE Clinton Street this morning to observe and enforce stop sign compliance at 34th and 21st Avenues. According to Traffic Division Lieutenant Bryan Parman, the “enforcement mission” (a.k.a. sting) came after his office received a complaint via email last week from a … Read more
“If I would have been a pedestrian or on a regular bike, I would have been dead…I feel like an attempt was made on my life. I told the cop I was assaulted but for some reason this was put on the backburner. They told me my case was placed at a low priority.”— pedicab … Read more
The Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division has chosen a new captain. Officer Eric Hendricks, who has been in the bureau for 23 years and was most recently in charge of its Training Division, will now lead the Traffic Division. Assistant Chief and former Traffic Division Captain Larry O’Dea shared the news with me yesterday and … Read more
Oregonian columnist Steve Duin. Oregonian columnist Steve Duin has published pointed criticisms directed at the Portland Police Bureau’s handling of the Freedom Child bike light case in his column today. Freedom Child is the 57-year old St. Johns woman who was involved with an altercation with two Police officers back in 2003. Child claims she … Read more
Police say Child ignored their requests to stop after they saw her riding in the street without lights. They say when she ran to a house, they chased her down and took her into custody on her porch using reasonable force.— From The Oregonian The Oregonian reported Monday night that a 57 year-old St. Johns … Read more