Safe Streets? Debate continues as cycling numbers hit record high
In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels
A “Ghost Bike” at North Interstate and Greeley honored a life lost. The ten speed, spray-painted white, was drenched in flowers, personal notes and photographs. Cyclist Brett Jarolimek was killed at the intersection October 22nd. He collided with a garbage truck as it turned right across the bike lane. Jarolimek is the second Portland cyclist killed by a truck as it was turning right. Neither truck driver was cited. This deadly collision on North Interstate re-ignited debate about “sharing the road” safely
Portland for many years now has had a reputation of being a very “bike-friendly” city. In many respects, this is quite accurate. Bike lanes are plentiful, drivers tend on average to be more conscious of and polite to cyclists, and you’ll generally see many more people on bicycles here than you would in most other cities. Like anywhere else, though, bicyclists are just as likely to lose in a confrontation with a train or a motorized vehicle…and therein lies the problem.
Bicycles and motorized modes of transportation simply are not designed to coexist. A bicyclist is nothing if not a target on two wheels, because no amount of painted stripes on pavement will protect a 150-lb rider on a 25-lb bike from a couple thousand pounds metal, rubber, and a combustion engine travelling at normal city speeds. There’s simply no remedy for a driver who isn’t paying attention to what he or she is doing. Truthfully, there are far fewer bicyclists killed or injured than motorists. It’s just that when a bicyclist is killed by the driver of a motorized vehicle that tends to get a lot of attention. Here in Portland, that goes to the very core of how people here see themselves and their hometown.
This isn’t to say, of course, that this issue doesn’t represent a serious problem. At the same time, it should not be blown out of proportion. While Portland and surrounding communities needs to develop new and better ways to protect bicyclists, we should keep in mind that the vast majority of drivers here respect and look out for bicyclists. No matter what you do or how well you do it, there will always be a small percentage of unbalanced nitwits who think they own the road. By the same token, you’re also going to have a very small minority of cyclists who are overly aggressive and take stupid risks. If you’ve ever watched bike messengers go about their business, you’ll understand what I mean.
It’s a basic natural law: two physical bodies cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time. This is particular true when it comes to bicycles and motorized vehicles. All things considered, Portland does a very good job of creating an environment where these two parties can coexist. Can things be improved, and perhaps made even safer for bicyclists? Of course, and the city is looking at that very issue right now. One cyclists losing their life is one too many, a truth that’s equally meanignful for motorists. Before we begin to see motorized vehicles as the root of all evil, though, perhaps we should back up a step or two and look at the problem as a whole.
It’s unfortunate that we’ll never be able to create a world in which people in motion don’t die from the simple act of getting from Point A to Point B in a timely manner. One thing Portland does do very well is to create an environment where bicycles and motorized vehicles can coexist reasonably well. No, it’s not a perfect world, but things could be worse. This could be Houston, where bicyclists are generally regarded as just slightly better than pond scum and deserve whatever they get for impeding the Almighty Automobile.
