The Collision Chronicles

These are the collisions you won’t read about in the news. We publish information sent to us by victims and their friends and family. Most, but not all of them, are confirmed with the police before posting.

And keep in mind that we feel “collisions” can be both physical and mental. So we will also include road rage, menacing and other incidents where physical contact did not occur.

If you or a friend have been hit, please get a lawyer and educate yourself about your rights.

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

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

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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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Collision Chronicles: Road assault on MLK near Everett (8/30/16)

fee-quoteThis story was sent to us as a Subscriber Post by BikePortland reader Glenn Fee.

I Can’t Believe I’m Writing This

I’m not entirely sure where to begin, but I feel like I need to write it.

It’s been an understandably difficult few months for pedestrians and cyclists in Portland. As a committed cyclist and someone who simply enjoys being engaged in community issues, I’ve paid close attention to the collisions and near collisions that seem to be an all-too-common occurrence on our streets. Having two young children in North Portland, I was particularly upset yesterday when I heard about the young man who was hit on his way to Roosevelt High School. I used one of Bike Portland’s Tweets to ask Ted Wheeler about his commitment to Vision Zero, and I was pleased with the unqualified support for the policy.

On my way in to work this morning, it seemed that bike traffic coming down Vancouver was as heavy as it’s been all summer. I was thinking quite a bit about yesterday’s collision, and about how great it was to be among so many cyclists (strength in numbers, etc.). Then I had the scariest single experience in my five years of bicycle commuting in Portland.

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Collision Chronicles: A ‘traumatic’ close call while biking down Interstate Ave

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North Interstate before Russell.
North Interstate before Russell.

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

This account was posted by the victim Jocelyn Gaudi to her Facebook page yesterday. Gaudi, a very experienced rider and well-known local advocate who sits on several city transportation advisory committees, has given us permission to publish it here.

This morning, I experienced the closest call I’ve ever had while riding in Portland. To say that it was a traumatic experience is to short sell the negative impact that it had and will continue to have on me.

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Bicycle rider collides with woman walking on Broadway Bridge (8/24/16)

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Note: This is part of our Collision Chronicles project. Learn more here.

Received 8/24/16:

So my colleague’s wife was walking on the Broadway bridge last Tuesday (2nd) and was hit by a bicyclist. She was hit so hard that she suffered a fractured skull, subdural hematoma, dislocated shoulder and 6 fractured vertebra. She has since become paralyzed in her arm. The bicyclist fled the scene after briefly stopping and telling someone else to call 911.

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Hit-and-run at 33rd and Belmont (8/16)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Received 8/16/16

I’m a victim off hit and run this morning. Police report filed. No one got license plate number. Lots off witnesses. What resources are there for me? Still in mild shock and at hospital.

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The Collision Chronicles: The invisible collisions we need to see

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I believe we’re at a turning point. We can cede our streets to dangerous people and vehicles, or we can stand and fight to reclaim them.

This isn’t a post I wanted to make.

For years now I’ve debated internally (both in my mind and in talks with colleagues) about what to do with all the messages we receive from people who have been involved in collisions. Things like hit-and-runs, collisions between people biking and walking, scary road rage behavior (a type of mental collision), and so on. Unfortunately there are more of these than you think. That’s because unless it’s a fatality/very serious injury or it has some novel or interesting aspect to it, the police don’t put out statements on them. And the local media won’t pay attention for similar reasons.

Even here at BikePortland, we don’t always have the time or the inclination to make a full, Front Page story out of each collision story we receive — no matter how sad they are for those involved.

As a result, all these collisions, all this carnage, all these people’s lives changed forever, go unnoticed by the public, the media, policymakers and elected officials. This has nagged at me in these past few weeks more than ever as I’ve been forced to come to acknowledge that our roads are indeed becoming more dangerous for unprotected users.

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