killed

[littlebluedog]

Yesterday in Portland, a 19-year old woman died when her bike collided with a cement truckShe was apparently in the bike lane to the right of the truck when the light turned green. She rode straight. The driver executed a right turn

Comments

[sushi4k]

well said. innocent until proven guilty.

[remix79]

Nicely written. I agree.

[phrassie]

Thank you for writing this. It is exactly the way I feel.

And why is there such a need to place blame anyway? Lets all learn from this. Drivers can learn that they always need to check blindspots and bicyclists can learn that they always need to be cautious of drivers. Period.

[littlebluedog]

I don't know if it's a need so much as it is an instinct, which can be curbed. We try to explain things because we need to understand them, and we try to attribute causes to tragedies to help us avoid them. It's when this involves pinning blame prematurely or unfairly that we get into trouble.

[acadiabaird]

I definitely know that I was a lot more aware and careful yesterday in traffic myself... sometimes you just forget how serious things can turn out when you're just not paying attention and driving defensively....whether you're in a car or on a bike.....

[obsqurity]

What strikes me is that, in my perspective, a significant portion of the blame lies in the design of the intersection. I personally think that all such intersections, where there is a bike lane that goes straight, but a car must cross it to turn right, are deathtraps.

[littlebluedog]

There's some discussion in the comment threads about a CA law that requires a vehicle turning right to wait in the right-most lane, even if it's a bike lane. I can definitely see the merits of that.

[shebear]

As a California driver, I'll ask this: in Oregon, do you not merge into the bike lane to make a right turn?

It's often a question on our written driving test, because people assume you should stay out of the bike lane, but we are definitely supposed to be in it when making a right turn (the last part of it leading up to an intersection has a dotted line).

[yoopie]

my bf was talking about that last night in regards to this tragedy.

He was stating the ill design of bike lanes in various areas of Portland almost ensure this type of incident to occur unless there is complete awareness from all parties (bikes/motor vehicles) and even then blind spots play a huge factor.

I can't take BikePortland seriously

[mendemama]

because of the us vs. them vibe. And some ill shit that Jonathan Maus said a while back that was, euphemistically speaking, "racially insensitive". He somewhat apologized.

But yeah, I'll go there to find out more about a cyclist accident than what we get in MSM. And it overwhelmingly always the motorist fault. ALWAYS. ven when it's not. Even a cyclist is wrong . . . . the motorist should've have taken better care.

I know folks who ride bikes, not cyclists.

ANd yes I realize you could substitute different ethnicities for cyclists and my argument would probably be pretty opposite. I guess ultimately my point is the CYCLIST as identity doesn't carry the same weight black=identity, woman=identity, LGBTQ=identity, disabled=identity.

Somebody's baby, 7 years older than mine, is DEAD. Maybe folks could mourn without using that baby girl's corpse as a soapbox.

/hijack

Re: I can't take BikePortland seriously

[jef182]

IAWTC