Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

As recently as last week officials at TriMet, metro Portland’s transit company, dismissed as impractical suggestions that the city should stop allowing busses to make left-hand turns. Criticism of the practice emerged in the wake of an April Portland fatal bus accident that left two people dead and three others injured after they were struck by a bus turning left through a crosswalk. The bus had a green light at the time, but the pedestrians also had a ‘walk’ signal, according to local media reports.

Since the accident it has emerged that federal safety data indicate that eliminating left turns from bus routes can have a significant effect on safety, as can other measures such as requiring drivers to honk their horns. An article in The Oregonian last week listed several cities in different parts of the country that have taken the study’s recommendations to heart, but noted that Portland is not among them. As recently as a few days ago Portland transit officials dismissed the idea of instituting similar changes here, claiming our city’s street grid makes such measures impractical.

Late last week, however, TriMet reversed itself. On Friday the authority announced that following last month’s Oregon bus injury crash changes are being made to routes 12, 17 and 44. According to an article in The Oregonian, “more operation, training and route changes are expected as part of a sweeping safety review.” The announcement follows the paper’s revelation that TriMet recently settled a Portland personal injury lawsuit with a woman who lost her leg in 2008 when she was struck by a bus making a left turn.

Last month, two people died and three others were injured in a Portland fatal bus accident when they were hit by a Tri-Met bus making a left-hand turn. Now, an investigation by The Oregonian demonstrates that data on the problem of busses and left-turn accidents has existed for some time, and that measures implemented in other cities could prevent Oregon bus accidents like the one that took place in late April.

The newspaper cites a federal study showing “that bus-pedestrian collisions are more than twice as likely to happen during left turns.” It notes that other cities, including Des Moines, Iowa and Cleveland, Ohio, instituted relatively simple procedures following the study’s release in an effort to improve safety. In both cities, for example, bus drivers are forbidden to make left-hand turns and are required to honk their horns before turning right. The article notes that six cities, including Cleveland and Richmond, Virginia, are equipping vehicles with “pedestrian warning systems”. In Richmond, for example, a loud recorded voice announces “Caution: bus turning” whenever the vehicle turns out of an intersection.

The newspaper quotes a Tri-Met spokeswoman, however, saying that a ‘no left turns’ policy for preventing Oregon bus accidents is not feasible in downtown Portland because of the way the city’s streets are laid out. The spokeswoman also dismissed the idea of a policy to require honking as busses turn on the grounds that it would make drivers rely on the horn “instead of their awareness of pedestrians.”

A Portland bus accident late Saturday night left two young women dead and three other people injured – one critically – after the group was struck by a bus. According to The Oregonian, police are still working to reconstruct the details of the Oregon fatal pedestrian vehicle crash. The incident took place in downtown Portland as the group of pedestrians left a local comedy club.

According to the paper, the accident occurred at the intersection of Northwest Broadway and Glisan Street. “The bus was westbound on Glisan as it turned left onto southbound Broadway and struck the westbound pedestrians,” the paper reported. The five victims, including a newlywed couple and a brother and sister, all knew one another and were traveling together. According to police, the bus had a green light at the time of the accident and the pedestrians had a walk signal. The bus was out of service at the time and was not carrying passengers.

The Oregonian quoted police saying that neither speed nor alcohol initially appears to be a factor in the accident.