Last Friday at City Hall, Commissioner Sam Adams hosted a meeting to discuss the enforcement issues that have caused frustration and outrage in the bike community and a public relations crisis for the Police Bureau. At the table were representatives from the Police Bureau including both Chief Sizer and Assistant Chief Lynnae Berg, along with … Read more
Lawyer Bob Mionske Portland-based lawyer Bob Mionske, a former Olympian who writes a monthly legal column for VeloNews Magazine, has added yet another voice of concern over what he sees as a bias against bicyclists at the Portland Police Bureau. In his most recent VeloNews column, A fatal bias?, Mionske goes in-depth on four cases … Read more
[Updated: 11:28am] “The driver said the civilian investigation seems like a ‘vigilante’ move that won’t fix anything.”–From a story on KGW The Oregonian and KGW have picked up the story about an effort by a local lawyer to work toward a citation against the driver in Tuesday’s collision. Today’s Oregonian also features a forceful opinion … Read more
Scott Bricker, the Executive Director of the BTA, has posted an update on what he has been doing in light of ongoing community discussion surrounding enforcement issues. Here are excerpts from his post:
“There just has to be some consequences for drivers who plow into cyclists.”–Julie Rawls, a witness to yesterday’s collision. The frustration of many people in the community has reached a boiling point. The well over one-hundred comments on this site (and others), emails and phone calls I’ve received, and messages on local email lists leave … Read more
[*Updated 3:17pm] Bob Verrinder remains in serious condition.(Photo courtesy of Bob’s friends) On Thursday, October 18, Bob Verrinder was seriously injured when he and a motor vehicle collided on NE Marine Drive. Unfortunately, because a separate tragic event occurred the following Monday, I have been unable to follow-up on this story. First, I want to … Read more
Education about bicycle laws is a major factor in keeping our roads safe for everyone. Increasing awareness and understanding of these laws is just as important as any bike safety infrastructure or policy changes. That’s why some cyclists are concerned that a quote attributed to a Portland Police Bureau employee and published by the Oregonian … Read more
A large crowd in City Hall.Slideshow below(Photos © Jonathan Maus) Just four days after the second fatal bicycle crash in as many weeks, City Commissioner Sam Adams called together an “emergency meeting” to discuss the issues and brainstorm solutions to improve bike safety in our city. Following the meeting was a press conference that was … Read more
Why were the truck drivers not given a citation for failure to yield to a bicycle in a bike lane?
With all the discussion going on about how to make bike travel safer on crowded downtown streets, I thought we should take a closer look at some of the options on the table. The first one has to do with signage and how legislation, enforcement, and engineering deal with non-motorized vehicle travel lanes (previously known … Read more
(Photo: Jonathan Maus) The Portland Police Bureau has named Vince Jarmer as the new Commander of the Traffic Division. The change became effective as of August 9th. Jarmer was formerly the Lieutenant of the Traffic Division (under former Commander Bill Sinnott) and was most recently Captain of the Personnel Division. Jarmer takes over the commander … Read more
Still from video.(Watch via YouTube below) While doing research for a story, I noticed something interesting on the home page of the San Francisco Bike Coalition the other day. They’ve partnered with the SF Police Department to create a new training video (YouTube embed below). Fully scripted and acted out by real people (not actors, … Read more