Unsafe Streets

WHILE THE CITY UNVEILED bike facilities to make cycling
downtown safer on Monday, August 31, two miles of dangerous road in
Northeast Portland claimed two serious bike-car wrecks last week,
leaving one cyclist in critical condition and the other dead.

Narrow bike lanes are painted down both sides of NE 122nd, but they
did not save the life of 52-year-old cyclist James Neal Wagner. He
became Portland’s third bicycle fatality of the year when a hit-and-run
driver struck him early on the morning of Thursday, August 27. Last
year, the city had no bike fatalities.

Only ashes from police flares remain to mark the death near the
intersection of NE 122nd and Fremont. It is a busy and poorly
maintained stretch of road—four lines of traffic and bike lanes
cross on- and off-ramps to I-84. Debris ranging from gravel to car
parts to a pair of boots litters the road and northbound bike lane
where Wagner was struck. Near the crash site, a recent paint job
narrowed the bike lane, lopping off part of the letters spelling “Bike
Only.”

Police responded to calls from the scene of the crash at 2:15 am on
Thursday morning, finding Wagner deceased. The police have not yet
charged any suspects.

Just a mile and a half down 122nd, a second car seriously injured a
cyclist a day after Wagner’s fatal crash. Police booked Wayne Conrad
Thompson on the afternoon of Friday, August 28, for felony assault in
the first degree after he allegedly backed his Kia Sportage into a
cyclist in a parking lot on NE 122nd and Glisan. The cyclist was taken
to the hospital and listed in serious condition over the weekend.
First-degree assault entails “intent to cause serious physical harm to
an individual.” In this case, Thompson is accused of wielding a deadly
weapon: his car.