🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Collision Chronicles: Roadway assault on North Skidmore near MLK (8/29/16)

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This story is part of our Collision Chronicles, an ongoing series to shine a light on the steady stream of scary street interactions we hear about but that you probably won’t see covered in the news.

 I never thought I’d be emailing anyone about something like this, but it finally happened to me.

I was assaulted by a driver on my short morning commute, Monday 8/29, around 7:20 am. I was following a driver from the MLK/Skidmore light west down Skidmore and he was driving erratically, slowing as if he was going to turn right several times. I thought he might be a uber/lyft driver, after the 2nd time I tried to go around him and he sped up, obviously taunting me and yelling, “Why the F are you riding my bumper?!”.

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Cross season is here! Get stoked with photos from the first week of racing

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Racers wind through a curvy section of the Portland Trophy Cup race that happened last night out at PIR.
(Photos by Daniel Steinle/Yung Pine Photography)

[Publisher’s note: We plan on having lots of cyclocross coverage this year (in part because I’ll be out there racing!) and we’re kicking things off with selected images from the talented eye of Daniel Steinle of Yung Pine Photography. Stay tuned for more great ‘cross photos, info, and stories. — Jonathan]

Portland’s cyclocross scene is envied the world over. And for good reason. We have a full calendar of races (many just a short distance from town), a very strong organizing body in the Oregon Bicycle Racing Assocation, and a supportive and fun community that surrounds it. Whether you’re a fan, a beginner or a seasoned pro, Portland cyclocross is where it’s at.

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Portland now using pedal-powered trikes to help rebalance bike share stations

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Motivate employee Troy Leighton on the inaugural ride of the new cargo trikes being used to rebalance Biketown bikes.

Biketown is now using bikes to refill bikes at bike share stations. Makes perfect sense right?

Yesterday we scored a sneak peek at a new program that the City of Portland and Motivate (the city’s bike share operator) is working on: A small fleet of pedal-powered trikes that will help make sure Biketown stations have enough bikes available to potential users. In the bike share world this task is called rebalancing.

As bikes get used and left around town, some popular stations tend to run out of bikes. It’s a tricky issue for all bike share systems, and a costly one. Rebalancing is the single largest operational expense for bike share systems. Operators of Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare spend about 55 percent of their operating costs on rebalancing efforts which includes the wages of 20 van drivers and four dispatchers (we rode along with one in 2013).

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Tonight: Hawthorne neighborhood groups host traffic safety event

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In light of all your concerns about traffic safety, we want to bring your attention to an event we just heard about. It’s a community forum being hosted by the Sunnyside & Richmond neighborhood associations and it’s happening tonight from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Alethia Church (4511 SE Main Street) in southeast.

The event flyer is above and here’s more from the organizers:

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Police write 31 tickets, 34 warnings and make two arrests in enforcement mission

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(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Our roads are so full of dangerous and irresponsible vehicle operators that finding them is usually as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Case in point: In response to a spate of collisions caused by reckless and illegal driving, the Portland Police Bureau decided to conduct a traffic safety mission on Friday night. For two hours between 7:00 and 9:00 pm they patrolled the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue couplet between the Ross Island Bridge and Broadway.

In those two hours they wrote 31 traffic citations and 34 warnings. They also arrested two people — one for driving under the influence and another person for outstanding warrants.

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A suspected drunk driver has hit and killed a man who was walking across Division Street

The intersection of Division at SE 124th near where Damon Burton was killed.
The intersection of Division at SE 124th near where Damon Burton was killed.

A man was arrested yesterday morning for recklessly driving his car into a person who was trying to cross the street in southeast Portland.

40-year-old Clifford Eugene Perry Jr. faces charges of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) and Reckless Driving. Perry will be arraigned in Multnomah County Court today.

On Sunday evening Perry was driving westbound on Division near 124th (map) “at a high rate of speed” (according to Portland Police investigators) prior to coming into contact with 61-year-old Damon Patrick Burton. Perry, who the police suspect was drunk, then continued driving on Division until crashing into a gas station at 122nd. Burton lived in the neighborhood and was trying to cross Division from south to north prior to being hit.

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The Monday Roundup: Buzzbikes, rolling coal, Tamika Butler & more

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This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Hassalo on Eighth, now leasing in the Lloyd District.

Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. Now it’s time to put your thinking caps back on. Here are the stories that caught our eyes this past week:

New twist on bike share: Two business partners have launched a novel new bike promotion scheme in London: Riders can get a free ‘Buzzbike’ only if they agree to ride to work at least 12 days per month and park the bike in a public place.

Rolling coal goes primetime: Regular BP readers know all about the “rolling coal” menace; now people all over the world are just finding out about it thanks to a front page story in the NY Times.

Road rage across the pond: A road rage video posted online by British journalist Jeremy Vine has the UK talking. Guardian reporter Peter Walker explains why it’s not a surprise to everyday riders.

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Weekly Video Roundup: Ultraendurance, bikefishing, cows, and more

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Welcome to the weekly video roundup! I’m getting this out before I leave for a big bike adventure this weekend. The above video is 45 minutes on this year’s RAAM, which includes Juliana Buhring, the hero of Inspired To Ride (which is about the “self-supported RAAM” though not affiliated with RAAM). Such an amazing ultraendurance race; I love the humanity that comes from showing the riders.

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Weekend Picks: 24-hour ‘Velo Vulture’ alleycat and cyclocross!

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Yes. It is time for ‘cross. And David Douglas Park is a great place to kick off the season.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s Labor Day weekend so you know what that means (besides celebrating the labor movement): extra time for bike adventuring!

While we be rolling into the Willamette Valley with friends to pick up some beer-making ingredients for Base Camp Brewing on the third annual Fresh Hop Century, we also want to highlight two big events on our calendar for this Saturday: the 24 Hour Velo Vulture Alley Cat and the first race in the Gran Prix Brad Ross cyclocross series.

These events will get your heart pumping whether you prefer to pedal through the urban jungle or the cyclocross battlefield.

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Pleas to drive more safely echo at ‘Rally to end unsafe streets’

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Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel Mickelberry pushed back tears as she said the recent spate of deaths and injuries have been “debilitating” for her organization.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

No matter what Portland does to address the fatalities and injuries on our roads, in the end safety comes down to one major factor: personal behavior. That was the predominant opinion of the speakers at a rally “To end unsafe streets” held in downtown Portland this morning.

The event was organized by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (soon to be called the Street Trust). That organization’s Executive Director Rob Sadowsky reminded the few dozen people and handful of media crews that showed up that Portland has had 30 road deaths so far this year. An “enormous amount,” he said.

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Northeast community embraces bike safety fiesta hosted by Portland Police

Assistant Chief Chris Uehara was one of several officers who attended the annual bike safety fiesta.(Photos: Portland Police Bureau)
Assistant Chief Chris Uehara was one of several officers who attended the annual bike safety fiesta.
(Photos: Portland Police Bureau)

The power of bicycles to bring people together and break down barriers is truly awe-inspiring. We’ve seen this take many forms over the years and now we can add a recent event hosted by the Portland Police Bureau to the list.

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