Motor Vehicle Accidents

March 19, 2012

Discussing the Best Way to Mix Bikes and Cars on Oregon’s Streets

The New York Times’ online forum for expert discussion, “Room for Debate,” recently published an excellent look at bike-versus-car issues. While the debate was understandably somewhat New York-centric, it raised a number of interesting points that merit some thought on our part here in Oregon.

Portland, of course, has a far more bicycle-friendly reputation than New York City. As we have seen on too many occasions, however, that fact alone is not enough to ensure that urban bike riding here in Oregon is as safe as it ought to be, or that Portland bike and car accidents become as rare and unusual as they should.

As one of the participants, author Peter Calthorpe, writes “The answers are simple: create safe bike lanes, generous pedestrian spaces, visible, and short crossings and narrow car lanes to slow traffic.” As he readily acknowledges, this is easier said than done. It is important, though, to remember that this discussion is far from theoretical. As another participant, Yale Law School professor Tracey Meares, notes, on taking over as Miami police chief a few years ago John Timoney discovered “that vehicular homicides outnumbered ‘regular’ homicides.”

February 27, 2012

Oregon Bike Safety to be Focus of Charity Event

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Six months after a Portland bicycle and car crash landed him in intensive care, retired football star Joey Harrington is working to put that experience to good use, according to Bike Portland. Harrington plans to combine his celebrity with his experience as an Oregon bike accident victim to promote children’s bicycle safety.

Bike Portland reports that the fundraiser, the “Bridge to Breakers – Helmets for Kids” ride, will be a 100-mile group ride on September 30. According to a statement released by the Harrington Family Foundation “the foundation would like to channel the attention from this accident to educate our community to the hazards associated with bicycle travel with the aim of reducing and preventing injuries to children.”

The injuries the former Oregon and NFL star suffered last August brought attention to Portland bicycle safety issues. He was clipped from behind by a passing car and, according to newspaper reports around the time of the accident, only avoided a severe Oregon traumatic brain injury because he was wearing a helmet.

February 14, 2012

Oregon School Bus Accidents Injure Three Children

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Accidents involving school buses are arresting enough, but for two Oregon school bus accidents to take place in the same town – on the same road – in just three days is, to say the least, striking.

According to the Albany Democrat-Herald the first accident took place on a Friday afternoon earlier this month in Lebanon, southeast of Salem. In that incident, “a van pulling onto Highway 20 from Highway 226 hit the left side of a Bandon School District bus,” the newspaper reports. The van’s driver and her passenger – an elderly couple from Corvallis – were both hospitalized with “non-life-threatening injuries.” Two students on the bus were also injured and were taken to a separate hospital.

The following Monday, in the second incident, a nine-year-old boy was injured as the result of another Oregon School Bus crash on Highway 20. This incident, which took place just north of Lebanon, was part of a three vehicle Oregon car crash that began when one car waiting to make a left turn was rear-ended by another vehicle. The impact sent the first car out into the intersection, and into the path of the oncoming school bus. In addition to the child on the bus, the driver of the car that caused the rear-end collision was injured in the incident.

February 3, 2012

Washington Bicycle Injury Spotlights Car Door Dangers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

This story from Seattle is worth noting because it highlights one of the things bike riders in an urban environment fear most, and one of the types of Oregon and Washington bicycle accident that is most easily preventable – and one for which there is never really any good excuse.

According to West Seattle Blog, a local online publication, a cyclist in the Seattle area was hospitalized yesterday after “a car door opened in front of him causing him to flip over the door.” Quoting local police, the blog reports that despite the fact that he was not wearing a helmet the rider, a 30-year-old man, “remained conscious and responsive but could not remember the accident,” when police and emergency services personnel arrived to help him. He was taken to a local hospital “in stable condition.” The fact that the victim could not remember the accident is an especially worrisome sign – indicating a possible traumatic brain injury.

Several notable issues arise from this short item. The Washington bicycle accident is a reminder of how dangerous riding in a city can be – even a city as bike-friendly as ours are here in the Pacific Northwest. The victim in this accident appears to be extremely lucky, especially granted that he was not wearing a helmet. It is worth adding that the accident he experienced – being launched head-first over the handlebars – is just about the most dangerous kind of bike accident a rider can be involved in. That is why it is especially important that drivers always remember to look carefully before opening a car door. Checking one’s mirror alone is not sufficient: people getting out of a car need to turn around and look directly behind and beside the vehicle. We are all aware of our cars’ blind spots when they are moving. That awareness should not cease just because the car is parked.

January 28, 2012

Multi-Vehicle Portland Crash Spotlights Reckless Driving

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent frightening incident on I-205 led to a multi-vehicle Oregon auto crash involving a pick-up truck, a large commercial truck and a TriMet bus. A man from Monmouth was injured, several other vehicles damaged and the busy road was closed for several hours during morning rush hour, according to both The Oregonian and the Portland Tribune.

The chain of events leading to the crash began with a driver “passing on the right shoulder” who then abruptly “cut back into traffic,” according to The Oregonian. The driver of a pick-up swerved to avoid the reckless driver, went into a spin and crashed into a tractor-trailer. A TriMet bus traveling behind the pick-up also swerved in an effort to avoid the unfolding accident but wound up becoming part of it. Exactly what happened to the reckless driver who set all of this in motion is not mentioned in the media accounts – a fact which implies that the person ultimately responsible managed simply to drive away (particularly since both newspapers report that the police did not issue any citations at the scene of the multi-vehicle Oregon traffic crash).

That only one person was hurt in such a complex Oregon highway accident is a testament to the importance of seat belts. According to the Tribune “all drivers were using safety restraints.” That, at least, can be taken as a good sign. It was also surely fortunate that the bus was empty at the time of the accident. As I have noted in previous posts, TriMet has had a couple of difficult years leading to some significant questions about how – and how safely – it operates.

January 24, 2012

Oregon Distracted Driving Loophole Closed

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The New Year brought with it quiet news of an important development in the battle against Oregon distracted driving. Beginning this month, Oregon drivers stopped by police for using a handset while driving will no longer be able to avoid the two-year-old Oregon distracted driving law’s penalties by claiming that they were making a work-related call.

The language of the original bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor allowed an exception for use of a handheld cellphone by an Oregon driver if the call in question “is necessary for the person’s job,” as the Los Angeles Times writes. This was arguably intended to be a way to protect police and other emergency services personnel whose jobs often require the use of a cellphone or hand-held radio.

In practice, however, it developed into a glaring loophole. As the Gresham Outlook noted in a recent editorial, the work exception “was that annoying escape route for ticketed drivers who used the ‘I was on a work call’ defense to get out of paying fines.”

January 16, 2012

Bike Helmet Recall Alert

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a voluntary recall of “Little Tricky” kids bike helmets. See the link below for the original CPSC news release, including pictures of the helmets themselves. Parents should immediately double-check their kids’ helmets to ensure that the children are not using the affected products.

The agency news release says that the helmets “do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance.” That means that in the event of an Oregon bicycle accident the helmets might fail to offer the required protection. “Customers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall,” the CPSC warns.

According to the CPSC the helmets have been on sale since 2006. The company’s “Triple Eight” and “Sector 9” size “S/M” (for “small/medium”) models are affected by the recall. The government is urging parents to ensure that their children stop using the helmets immediately, and to return the helmets to the manufacturer for a full refund.

December 30, 2011

Oregon Truck Accident Settlement Shows Power of Courts for Justice

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A few days ago I wrote about the importance of access to our courts and the myth that Oregon personal injury lawsuits are frivolous actions designed to clog up the legal system and undercut the business community. A case settled earlier this month in the southern part of our state illustrates my point perfectly. Through a settlement announced just before Christmas a severely injured motorist has used the legal system to achieve accountability from those responsible for his suffering and, in the process, to see justice done.

According to an account by the Associated Press, the victim of a horrific Oregon car-truck accident a year ago in Central Point will receive a $1.4 million payment to account for the injuries and trauma he suffered when “a trailer detached from the rig that was pulling it and slammed into his Chevy Silverado, flattening it and trapping him inside.”

Trapped in the wreckage for an hour-and-a-half the pick-up’s driver was badly injured. Upon finally reaching a hospital “he was treated for a broken neck, spinal fluid leakage… and (multiple) fractures… as well as nerve damage in his right arm and wrist,” the news agency reports. His suit against the truck driver and the driver’s employer alleged that the truck was operating recklessly at the time of the Oregon truck crash and that the vehicle had not been properly maintained.

December 22, 2011

Oregon Train Accident Spotlights Safety Issues at Crossings

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A fatal accident earlier this month at an Eastern Oregon railroad crossing where collisions involving trains and vehicles have occurred in the past raises serious questions about corporate responsibility and road/rail safety.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting (citing an article that originally appeared in the East Oregonian), a 63-year-old county worker died earlier this month “when a train struck a road grader on Canal Road south of Hermiston” in the Eastern part of the state. The worker was using the grader to spread gravel along one side of the tracks at the time of the accident. According to OPB “the train dragged the grader about 100 feet before it stopped.” The grader operator died at the scene of the Oregon train and car accident.

What makes this tragedy especially noteworthy are facts indicating it was ultimately preventable. As the article explains, at the crossing in question “motorists cannot see trains coming from the west until they emerge around a nearby curve. The crossing is uncontrolled, meaning it does not have traffic control arms.”

December 17, 2011

Government Calls for Ban on Cellphone Use by Drivers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A pair of recent stories from Washington go a long way toward putting Oregon’s, and the nation’s, distracted driving problem in context: last week the National Transportation Safety Board formally called for a nationwide ban on “driver use of personal electronic devices,” according to the Washington Post. This came only a few days after new data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that “for all the criticism and new legal bans, texting by drivers just keeps increasing, especially among younger motorists,” according to a report filed by the Associated Press.

Both of the organizations are independent federal agencies. The NHTSA studies and promotes highway and traffic safety while the NTSB is charged with investigating transportation accidents of all types (i.e. not just cars and trucks).

The NTSB statement was particularly strongly worded, according to the Post, and followed the lengthy investigation of a crash last year in Missouri in which “a 19-year-old pickup driver sent 11 texts in the 11 minutes before the accident.” The paper adds that the NHTSA’s data show that in 2009 (the last year for which numbers are available) distracted driving resulted in 5000 deaths and half-a-million injuries on America’s roads.