Doyle was the Portland bike commuter who was right-hooked on Monday.
Kudos to the Oregonian for the great video.
Bike lane enforcement outrage continues
Portland lawyer Robert Reid says it better than I could ever hope to say it: The Portland Police Bureau shouldn’t be allowed to selectively enforce the law.
Right Hook Again?!?!?
Unbelievably, it happened at the same intersection where Brett Jarolimek was killed two weeks ago. It hasn’t even been a month since Tracey Sparling was killed by the right hook. No action has been taken to hold any of these motorists accountable for their illegal actions. There’s no excuse for this. How many people must be killed and injured before Mark Kruger starts enforcing the law? What ever happened to “protect and serve”? Does it not apply to cyclists?
Update: The Oregonian has the story on their blog. Here’s the money quote (with my emphasis):
“Doyle was taken to an area hospital but she was not seriously hurt. Police do not routinely investigate accidents in which no one was seriously injured. No citations have been issued.“
More Kruger detractors
It seems I’m not the only one whose ire is up because of Lt. Mark Kruger. Jonathan Maus over at BikePortland.org has a terrific article today about the situation including an opinion with popular Portland “bike lawyer” Mark Ginsberg.
The Oregonian also reported today that the driver has 25 speeding convictions and has even lost his license once before. Lt. Kruger maintains that this has no bearing whatsoever on the current case. Oh, and the driver wasn’t available for comment because he was preparing for another long shift. Yes, he will be on the road again soon!
In the meantime, Portland City Commisioner Sam Adams has called an emergency meeting to discuss the matter with relevant parties including representatives from the trucking community, bike community, law enforcement and transportation agencies. I hope he has the ear of the mayor and someone realizes that Lt. Kruger is unable to perform his duties with respect to cyclists.
Deadly right hook again
It happened again. Another truck driver turned right at an intersection and killed a bicyclist in the bike lane. Once again, Portland Police Lt. Mark Kruger is making excuses for drivers and blaming victims. The Oregonian reports Kruger said “that solving the problem requires more than just faulting drivers.” How about we start with faulting drivers who have broken the law and killed someone due to their negligence?
Here’s what Kruger said to The Oregonian after Tracey Sparling was killed by the right hook:
“Bicyclists expect and are trained by activists groups that when you’ve got the bike lane, you can do what you want to do,” he said. “We have a lot of these collisions that don’t end in fatalities, but they are stubborn to the point that they won’t give up ground for the sake of safety.”
Does this sound like a man who is enforcing the law that protects cyclists? He is not and he wants to further erode cyclists’ rights by passing a law giving motor vehicles the right to drive in the bike lane prior to making a right turn. If passed cyclists would not only have to deal with the right hook from stopped traffic, cyclists would also have to deal with a moving right hook.
I see bike lane violations nearly every single day that I ride my bike. I would be extremely interested to see statistics on the number of citations the Portland Police Department has issued because I suspect that it is extremely low. Timothy S. Wiles, the driver in the Tracey Sparling case, has yet to be charged or even cited the $242 fine for failing to yield to a cyclist. According to all reports this is because Sparling was in the Wiles’ “blind spot.”
A couple of years ago we took some out-of-town friends to Hooters. We ordered the world famous hot wings. When they arrived we were shocked to find that they had what looked like many small hairs sticking out of them. When we told the waitress, she got the manager who told us, “Oh, don’t worry. Those are just feathers.” As if hairs were bad but feathers were good. I suppose some people would accept such an excuse but we haven’t been back to Hooters since.
Kruger sounds like that Hooters manager here: “Yes, an innocent biker was killed as the result of a truck driver not obeying the law, but it’s not what you think. It wasn’t the driver’s fault because he couldn’t see Sparling.” Well, Lt. Kruger, if that’s the case then the driver should be cited for negligence for driving a vehicle which impairs his ability to obey the law. The burden is not on the cyclist here – the law makes that completely clear. The burden is on the driver. If he fails to meet that burden, for whatever reason, he is in violation of the law and should be prosecuted. Find the best trucking company in Kansas City, you will be satisfied with the service. If you are looking for quality towing services check out Jim’s Bensalem Towing, this is a great company if you need towing in Bensalem.
As long as Lt. Kruger doesn’t see this as a crime, truck drivers will continue to run cyclists over with no fear of punishment. No awareness campaign can be mounted for truck drivers and no remedies can be put in place with respect to poorly equipped trucks.
A Cyclist Was Killed Here
Last night I rode on the memorial ride for Tracey Sparling, the young woman who was run over by a cement truck while trying to cross Burnside on her bike. The ride was mostly silent except for the constant tinkling of sad bike bells in the still night. None of my photos came out as well as this one which shows the “ghost bike” adorned with notes, flowers, candles, etc. See my earlier entry for more details about the accident. A number of people took pictures and posted them on Flickr.
Deadly right hook
Although the investigation is ongoing, it appears that a young woman died as the result of the right hook, which I have talked about here previously. The photo in the article is disturbing but quite telling. The Oregonian also has a story and a similar photo. Somebody has already placed a “ghost bike” at the scene and a memorial ride is schedule for tonight.
Update: The Oregonian now has a profile of the victim.
Right turners
Bicyclist in Portland are blessed with an abundance of bicycle lanes on our city streets. Bike lanes, however, come with their own set of problems. One of these is the right turning motorist.
The right turning motorist (RTM) often does not appear to be aware or considerate of the bike lane. Thus, the RTM does not check the bike lane before executing his right turn. The most careless will turn right into you even when you are directly in view (i.e. adjacent or in front of their hood), but that doesn’t happen often. The more common occurrence is the driver who executes the turn just as you are passing him. This is often called the “right hook”.
This morning I was riding downhill on Lloyd Blvd towards Grand Avenue. Almost everytime I take this route, I get caught by the very long traffic light at Grand because Grand has more traffic than Lloyd. Also, once it turns green, the light changes to red rather quickly.
As I rounded the curve and the light came into view, the light changed to green. Not wanting to miss the light and have to wait through a full cycle, I accelerated down the hill as fast as I could. Cars filled both lanes and were stacked up about 8 deep. As I approached each car, I checked for their right turn signal as well as the subtle drift to the left that often presages the right turn. Several cars drifted into the bike lane, but I forgave them because there is a curve there. As I neared the intersection, the light was still green and the car beside also started to drift into the bike lane. Just as I got up to her rear door, the turn signal came on about a half second after she started the right turn. Normally I would give the trunk a slap to let her know I was there, but this time I only had time to slam on the brakes and yell, “HEY!” She did turn around and I shook my fist at her as I whizzed through the intersection, still mindful of the light.
Just another day as a bike commuter.