May is National Bike Month. That’s an arbitrary designation, of course. I only bring it up because Portland’s has been god-awful. Almost three weeks after a 22-year-old cyclists lost his leg in a crash at SE Powell and 26th (and just days after a cyclists was killed nearby) there’s been ANOTHER crash at the intersection.
This one, thankfully, isn’t catastrophic. According to Portland police, a still-unidentified cyclists was hit by a Jeep Cherokee at 11:12 am, and doesn’t have life-threatening injuries.
In a city that’s already seeing increased bike activism (after years of perceived apathy) this all feels like its reaching a tipping point. Activists were already planning a memorial ride this eveing for Mark Angeles, the 22-year-old Reed College graduate who was killed when a tow truck failed to yield on Wednesday. And it was just May 11 when protestors last took to SE Powell and 26th, in a slowdown to protest the Oregon Department of Transportation’s stewardship of Powell. That action was a response to a crash where, once again, a truck driver failed to yield to 22-year-old cyclist Alistair Corkett.
Two days after the slowdown, the activist group BikeLoudPDX organized a “die-in” outside ODOT’s Portland headquarters.
Today’s crash creates more pressure to improve the 26th/Powell intersection, which most people agree needs better signals. And it’ll likely renew calls that ODOT should relinquish control of the Powell to the City of Portland. Between 2004-2013 there were 73 traffic injuries attributed to the intersection, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Of those, 60 were injuries to motorists, 8 were to cyclists. Injuries are rampant along that entire stretch of Powell, designated by PBOT as a high-crash corridor.
Update, 2:05 pm: Police now say the victim was a 37-year-old named Peter Anderson. He was stopped on 26th, headed north, and began to cross Powell when he was struck by 25-year-old Noah Gilbertson, who was going east. Cops aren’t saying whether it was Gilbertson or Anderson who disobeyed the stop light at the intersection. No citations.
Update, 4:20: Today’s crash was the motorist’s fault, police now say. Anderson had a green light when he began to cross Powell, Gilbertson just didn’t stop. He’s been cited for Careless Driving with Serious Injury to a Vulnerable Person.
That’s the first legal consequences we’ve seen from the recent string of bike-truck crashes. Neither the tow truck driver who killed Angeles nor the pickup truck driver who took Crockett’s leg have been charged, according to court records.
Update, 5:30 pm: And it looks like the local activism over this intersection is having an effect. ODOT just announced it’ll install left turn arrows in the light next week. Improvements weren’t expected until 2017. Here’s the press release.
ODOT will install upgraded traffic signals with left turn arrows at Southeast Powell Boulevard and 26th Avenue in the next week.
The new signals will provide green left turn arrows for northbound and southbound traffic on Southeast 26th Avenue at Powell Boulevard. This improvement will prohibit left turns when bicycles and pedestrians are crossing the intersection and provide a dedicated left turning phase for vehicles turning left onto Southeast Powell.
The intersection was the site of two crashes in May involving bicycles and motor vehicles, both involving serious injuries. The upgraded signals will improve safety by reducing motor vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle crashes.
ODOT, the City of Portland and TriMet are also in the process of designing a series of transportation safety improvements along Powell Boulevard between SE 20th and 34th Avenues. ODOT has earmarked $3.8 million for a project to be constructed in 2017 that will:
•Install rapid flash beacons alerting road users that pedestrians are waiting to cross Powell
•Add left turn signals
•Improve ADA ramps
•Improve street lighting
•Cut back on landscaping to improve visibilityThe average daily motor vehicle traffic in the corridor is 34,600, counting cars and freight traffic. The corridor is also used by bicycles, mass transit and pedestrians.
Critical Mass?
Let’s just move the bike lanes to the sidewalks and be done with this.
Let’s make hitting a pedestrian or cyclist legally in the roadway with sufficient force to injure a strict liability $1,000 fine and week in jail and be done with this.
Let’s revoke people’s licenses for 30 days and double their insurance rates for a year when the above happens and be done with this.
Let’s do all of the above, but 5 times worse, when alcohol is a factor and be done with this.
Let’s make it mandatory to have relevant mobile phone data imaged and provided to victims whenever cars collide with each other, or people or cyclists, and make distracted driving causing injury or death a mandatory fine and brief jail time and be done with this.
Critical Mass.
This is a horrible intersection. However, I think new drivers need to have a whole biking course that is a part of their driving education. I can’t speak for everyone, but I think the majority of people who bike, understand the laws of the road as not only a cyclist but also as a vehicle driver. Not all drivers understand the right away or rules of cycling. Education along with changes to certain intersections and roads could prevent some of these accidents.
^^^ Good idea. Maybe do the same for bicyclists – regulate their driving knowledge just like any other motorist.
TheMercury should do better than passive-voice language like “a…cyclist was hit by a Jeep Cherokee,” which discards any notion the driver might have been responsible for their actions. The driver of a Jeep Cherokee hit a cyclist. These things don’t happen of their own volition.
As for drivers’ education on cyclists, well, I learned to drive in Washington, but surely Oregon programs cover “red means stop”?
Darin, what is your problem? In all the cases in this story the driver was at fault. Those bike riders make your air cleaner and your roads less congested. Why are you on here just being nasty prick? Do you have anything constructive to say?
I think it’s funny that cyclists never claim responsibility for anything. I drive all day for my job and yes, people in cars do stupid things about every 30 seconds or so. entitled cyclists driving on roads, on a grid designed for cars also running red lights and stop signs etc. Assuming that cars can just stop on a dime, especially a large truck, is just ignorant. I think instead of simply blaming the driver of the car, try being a little more open minded and realistic and maybe use better judgment as a cyclist, and ride as if every car is not going to see you or be able to stop. Expecting to be viewed as an equal on the road is just silly, you’re not sharing the road with cars, they are trying to share it with you.
David, I’m not defending the driver in this accident at all. It’s unfortunate that these accidents are what spur these discussions. That said, I think everyone is accountable for what’s happening and we need to audit EVERYONE’s behavior and encourage the city to create innovative solutions that don’t favor specific groups. I’m sorry if that contradicts your philosophy and makes me a “nasty prick”.
Seems like most of the angry activist cyclists here want all the rights and privileges of a pedestrian with none of the responsibilities of a vehicle operator. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen one of you bozos blocking traffic on major roads because you think you’re a motor vehicle, only to cry like wittle babies when someone takes the slightest offense to your abuse of the law.
He ran a red light, apparently. This happens a lot on Powell. It’s a commuter street and highway that has more pressure now that Division has been slowed down to one lane. It will get worse when Foster is slowed. I see someone run a red light at 50th and Powell nearly every day. The road has a meaningful downhill right before the light at 26th, too, which encourages poor driving choices. They should probably put in photo red light cameras at these two intersections. They also need blinking lights at the crosswalks between 26th and 39th on Powell. I stop for pedestrians at these and often you just can’t see a pedestrian in time to make a safe stop so that they can cross. The flashing lights would give you more time and allow cars next to you when you do stop to know why you’re stopped. It’s easy to think they’re just turning.
However, because this was a case of someone running a red light, it’s not anymore a cycling issue than just a road safety issue. It could have been a car crossing or a pedestrian crossing and they still would have been hit. I’ve had several near misses as cars run the light at 50th and Powell and I start off immediately when it’s green.
Critical Mass.
Dude, can anyone just write in this blog? This author doesn’t even seem to have command of basic plural and singular forms. It’s goddamned distracting.
Yes, and as the traffic diverted through our neighborhood after Fridays Crash; Windmills vs. Don Quite…
I was crossing a street while diverted traffic raged through our neighborhood. …as it often does when a pedestrian death, crash or police stand off often sends lost and hurried people through our neighborhood.
People don’t understand the street I was crossing the day of the last bike/car crash. So they end up going down the wrong way. It is a poorly marked street for people wanting to drive 30 mph through the neighborhood.
So I was crossing the street and I almost got hit. My only way to alert the driver was to turn and face him holding up my hands up. There is a blind spot where the door meets the windshield especially problematic then turning left. Maybe his passenger saw me so he swerved and missed me and kind perusal f tried to stop.
Then he corrected his wrong way driving and went down the proper side of the street.
A flood of comical Keystone Cops drivers followed. I did not know it was another bicycle vs. Car crash. But I did know something was afoot and it was not good.
The next in line was a huge Uhaul truck with a trailer barreling up the hill to a blind left hand turn at 29th and Powell.
We have homeless encampments and a steady stream of people casing our neighborhood. We welcome all!
We even have a swimming pool at the Motel 6 next to a strip club! We have bowling and micro brews! You can do anything in our neighborhood.
In addition to the bike/crash thing, we have had a police stand off not faraway. We are in a densely populated part of the city.
So! Come visit our little slice of heaven! They have moved the Homeless Car living for now! But there are cars on the street with expired tags that have not been towed for months! There is always excitement and lively discussion about Philsopical musings!
Daily meets at #spelmans and nightly at #bulakava 🙂
R.I.p. to a challenging world! We are here and see you everyday you visit all of our neighborhoods! #peaceandlovepeaceandlove