🚨 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 🙏

Oregon State Police hand out 317 tickets and 273 warnings in 48 hours

Distracted driver being distracted.jpg

Illegal. Dangerous. Common.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Three weeks after the State of Oregon declared a culture war against distracted driving, they launched the first battle and the results of a “saturation patrol” show just how commonly people break the law while driving.

Over just just 48 hours in Central Oregon last weekend, troopers from three counties issued 317 traffic citations and issued 273 warnings. The officers specifically targeted behaviors that contribute to serious injury and fatal crashes like speeding, lane violations, and impaired and distracted driving.

Here’s the full breakdown:

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Six neat charts from Metro’s new report about Portland-area transportation

Commute vs All Trips_0

We hear more often about commute trips, but people’s trips to stores, schools, parks and friends look quite a bit different.
(All charts via Metro)

Metro is the only elected regional government in the United States. It’s also got one of the most interesting government communications teams in the country. Like MLB.com, Metro hires people to write journalism-style coverage of itself.

For its latest project, a four-part “regional snapshot” about transportation, the agency pulled out all the stops: original tilt-shift photography, narrative video, text drawn from at least a dozen interviews and a whole quiver of custom-made infographics. If you want a single overview on the basics of the region’s transportation situation, I’ve never seen a better one.

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Yikes! Bikes almost roll in the way of buses, trains in close-call videos

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Sometimes we all make mistakes. TriMet wants more people to think about the fact that some mistakes can be fatal.

It can be difficult to talk about this subject without blaming the victims of traffic violence. To its credit, the video TriMet released today focuses on examples of people who are acting both illegally and at least a little recklessly rather than (as the New York City transit union did recently) condemning people simply for not being cautious. There’s a big difference.

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The Monday Roundup: Biker madness comic, citations for kids & more

biker madness

This message brought to you by the City of Phoenix.

Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Dangerous activity: Phoenix decided to promote safe bicycling with a series of “graphic novels.” In the first, a dog runs in front of a young man biking without a helmet; he flips 180 degrees upside down and smashes his head on the ground, making his brain visible.

Healthy activity: Every hour a Dutch person spends cycling adds one hour to their life expectancy.

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Join us Monday to learn about the history of Portland bicycling

KEN History POSTER FEB 16 copy

Bike transportation is essential to the future of Portland. But every year it also becomes more and more a part of Portland’s history.

At a free event next week, a local biking writer and three Oregon biking advocates will meet up at a brewpub to talk about the history of biking in Portland — both its early heyday in the 1890s and the modern renaissance that began around 1970.

First, Portland author April Streeter (of Women on Wheels and Treehugger) will talk about seven “unforgettable characters who have shaped Portland’s bike culture,” going back to the 1800s.

Then Mychal Tetteh of the Community Cycling Center, Rob Sadowsky of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Steve Schulz of Cycle Oregon will join a panel about the movement’s modern history. I’ll be moderating.

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Affordable-housing alliance to city: Legalize ‘missing middle’ in bikeable neighborhoods

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
2314-16 se salmon duplex built 1927

2314 and 2316 SE Salmon: built in 1927, illegal to build today. City Council could change that with the comprehensive plan it’s about to vote on.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

As Portlanders debate ways to deal with the city’s continuing surge of housing prices, a coalition of local affordable-housing developers and service providers says Portland can’t afford to continue banning so-called “missing middle” housing from most of the city.

Duplexes, triplexes, internal home divisions and two-story garden apartments are common throughout many of the neighborhoods Portland built in the early 20th century. Today, those neighborhoods are the city’s most walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly — but since 1959, city code has made it illegal to build more neighborhoods like that. Homes with multiple kitchens or space for fewer than two cars are forbidden even on most residential land in the central city.

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Jobs of the Week: Cycle Portland, Pearl Izumi, Cyclone, Bike Friday, Bike Gallery

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Looking for a new gig? We’ve got six great job opportunities that just went up this week.

Learn more about each one via the links below…

–> Bike Tour Guid/Rental Staff – Cycle Portland

–> Assistant Store Manager – Woodburn – Pearl Izumi

–> Inside Sales Representative – Cyclone Bicycle Supply

–> Sales Support Specialist -Cyclone Bicycle Supply

–> Service Department – Bke Friday

–> Bike Mechanics/Bike Builders – Bike Gallery

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Latest Headlines

Video: Meet a nursing student who received one of Portland’s first e-bike rebates

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Escape into far-flung adventures at bike touring slideshow

Local gas tax will fund two new crossings on SE Division

From the Archives

Portland’s invisible machine: Behind the scenes at the World Naked Bike Ride