I didn't think that the Merc wrote anything about Beaverton. Tragic accident, but I always thought that you did your best to stay on this side of the tunnel. Can't blame you if that's the case; the only thing I avoid more than Old Town is Beaverton. It's really dangerous if you're not in an SUV or a train.

It is very sad when a person dies in Oregon no matter how it happens.

Well said robby. Does anyone know where to find the number of Oregon road fatalities? Are there an inordinate amount of bike fatalities in Oregon, because to hear some describe it, there are.

schting and robby are both right: We rarely write about anything beyond Portland's boundaries (check out our title), unless we're talking statewide issues. And yes, it's sad when anyone dies anywhere.

I ride the #52 bus to and from pcc rockcreek and I had to listen to dumb people go why is the bus late just cause they hit someone? I was like WTF?
Trust me I can wait for another bus. But that poor kid will never come back.
BTW AMY J Ruiz I, think your the best Jurno in town.and congrats on getting hitched.

All I know is that a lot of people in “metro” PDX, many that blog on this site, and many of my friends, seem to perpetually ridicule and mock anything they don’t understand and that makes them uncomfortable (see: suburb.) They are blinded by their transportation into SE Hawthorne and NE Mississippi apartments and coffee shops and only interact with people that look and act exactly like them – and that is what they want (yet they cry about lack of diversity.) This is a good example; and if anything, Laura is right about the need to acknowledge tragedy where tragedy is due. The reason this didn’t get as much coverage, just like the latest pedestrian-bus casualty, on this site says more about the community than it does about the Mercury. Just because it wasn’t arguably someone like you, doesn’t mean it is not an issue. I know it’s a crass statement, but it’s the truth. I’m sometimes guilty of this as well and it makes me sick.

tragic story, but I honestly don't think writing about every Portland metro biker death in the mercury is going to help the issue at all.

I don't know what investigative journalism would do to help this situation besides making the situation that much more painful for the driver and bicyclist's family.

Really buses being big and heavy and hard to turn is half the problem but you also have to consider (regardless of this incident) that bicyclists often times are at least partly to blame. There aren't any mandated safety courses or operator licenses required for cyclists like there are for drivers. It's tragic when a car accident kills a driver or passenger but those deaths don't get investigated and written up in papers, it's just chalked up to being a sad reality that eventually there will be deaths no matter how well informed or aware the operator of the vehicle is.

sad? yes, very... does every bike death warrant a piece in the paper? I don't think so... I'm sure if our city had more violent crime related deaths happening motorist and cyclist deaths wouldn't even be given half as much attention as they are now.

OK fine, let's talk Beaverton. I too rode the #52 Rock Creek for about a year while I worked out that way. One morning I was late so I had to do some walking from the MAX tracks past the Reser's factory.

About a minute before I got there, an SUV with two middle-aged ladies had crossed the street, over the sidewalk, over a light post and into the side wall of said warehouse. Half of the SUV hung out of the wall. The ladies stood there with a look of astonishment at what had happened and I was reminded that all of the signs and lanes in the world won't save you from a bad driver.

Just one of many reasons that I avoid Beaverton, far too many cell phone+SUV=accidents. Just don't say that it's because people are different because well... you just don't know. Tragic loss and I'd still rather talk Portland.

The paper is called "The Portland Mercury", last time I checked anyway.

You should probably investigate this anyway because it's a cyclist, it's Tri-met and you've already taken on the responsibility of reporting nn this issue.

I cringe thinking about what his parents are going through.

Does anyone know how many lawsuits Tri-Met has stacked up over the past year? It could just be me, or maybe even the short amount of time that has gone by since the pedestrian accident, but it seems like it might be a lot. Once, I was on a Tri-Met bus and the passengers had to yell at the driver because he was trying to text message and drive at the same time.

It looks like it wasn't the Tri-Met Bus drivers fault according to BPD, it was the kid for being where he shouldn't have been. It is very tragic and no one deserves to die that way, but you also need to be careful as a bicycle rider.

I'd say that Beaverton is essentially part of Portland and is definitely part of the metro area. there aren't any physical boundaries between the two and they share many services, such as the bus that killed this kid. I think this a story about a kid being killed by a local bus is definitely worthy of mercury coverage. Anyway, there have been whole issues on Vancouver and there are plenty of listings for events outside of Portland listed.

As to the whole thing being 'hush hush': the Oregonian put it on the front page of today's Metro section, and there was a story about it yesterday.

Whereas a friend of mine was struck by a Tri-Met bus -that had run a red light- at 12th & Sandy & Burnside. This resulted in no sort of news story, nor admission of guilt. They paid for one visit to the doctor, that's it. They're notoriously hard to sue, too.

jimmy, here are things I take into consideration when weighing what to cover and what not to cover.

In our coverage of past bike fatalities and accidents, the subtext has been Portland's transportation network, what the city council's doing about it, how the Portland police are investigating, etc—issues that dovetail with the beats we cover.

While the Beaverton accident may not be far outside of Portland, it's a different world when it comes to their street network, transportation planning, police investigations of bike-related deaths, etc. We could dive in and try to decipher what's going on there, but we've got limited resources that we currently focus on Portland.

That said, there might be a comparison story in there... how just over the hill from Portland, Beaverton treats their cyclists differently by planning major arterials and few (no?) bike boulevards. Maybe Beaverton can learn from how Portland has responded to bike-related tragedies. I'm see buzz on BikePortland.org about the poor design of the bike lane where the crash occurred.

(Also, thanks for holding our toes to the fire, and forcing us to critically examine what we cover. It's good to hear from readers about what they do and don't want to see in the Mercury when we're sorting out what we're able to do.)

As a weekly Mercury reader, I'd rather keep the focus on Portland. Perhaps someone out there could look into making a Beaverton Jupiter or something. Just a thought... things are pretty different out there and the residents do seem to have different city concerns.

Well, if he'd been WHITE (what's that? he was white?...oh).

The solution is so obvious, I'm surprised I'm the only one to see it:

TAKE BIKES AWAY FROM YOUNG PEOPLE!

You don't see middle-aged and elderly bicyclists being run over in droves.

You shouldn't be able to get a bike until you're about 40.

I don't think it matters that the death occurred in Beaverton or PDX, a young kid is gone and that just sucks.

Having lived in the 'burbs back east, I do think the concerns there might be different for many things, but I highly doubt bike safety and buses would be one of them.

It's me again. Maybe we need to tell kids that buses and trucks and those long trailers behind truck cabs don't bend in the middle, and sometimes come very close to and even over the corner when turning (which is where I understand a lot of these accidents happen). So, kids, take those iPod earplugs out, be alert to your surroundings, be ready to bail off your bike to save your neck, and realize that we don't live in a perfect world, and that expecting it to be perfect can be fatal...TO YOU.

Amanda - this kid had been told that. He knew it, and he followed it. He wasn't listening to music. He was in a bike lane (per the initial reports). He was clearly visible (several passengers on the bus said they saw him before the collision). He didn't run any stop signs.

We don't know yet whether it's the fault of the intersection design, or the bus driver, or both. But it sure as hell wasn't the kid's fault.

Why do some people in this city seem to think that just because there's a few idiots out there who ride at night without lights, run stop signs etc, means that anyone else on a bike also deserves to die? Cyclists don't say that all car drivers deserve to die just because they see some of them speeding or talking on cellphones.

Look, Stu:

I'm surprised you didn't catch on that I was writing in a general manner and not as an analysis of the particular accident at hand.

Believe it or don't, my "car" is a bicycle. I get around by bike, bus, or foot 100% of the time.

They haven't known a number of people who've died in traffic, as I have. They think they are immortal. Anyone who has raised kids knows that they always think they are the exception to the rule. Not only do I see kids on bikes riding along, giving up one of their essential safety senses to their iPod, but talking on their cell phone or even TEXTING while riding!

The plain fact is that being in a bike lane, bike box, or side street doesn't exempt you from the need to drive defensively and to constantly be monitoring one's circumstances and surroundings.

After a recent, "could easily have been deadly" run-in with those embedded MAX tracks that like to grab bike tires (when I went down, I hit my head very hard and there was a car behind me that luckily didn't roll over me. And I drive pretty carefully! And yet, all it took was a moment's inattention.

You know, out at sea, little vessels defer to big ones. In almost any case where a steamship collides with a small pleasure craft, it's the pleasure craft's fault. In traffic, the same rule makes sense: it's the bike rider's responsibility to be safe around buses, trucks, and other large moving objects, if only because bikes are nimble, trucks and buses are not.

Amanda,
Your anaogy of maritime accidents is not accurate in this case. Large ships travel in predicttable paths, at constant rtes of speed and announce their intentions. Smaller ships have means of communicating with larger ships (13 16). There is in general plenty of time to see things coming.

Busses on the other hand start and stop frequently, often pull over without signaling, and pull out without signaling. I as a bicylist have no way of discovering their intentions if they fail to comminicate, and often have to make decisions in seconds. If I yielded to every bus, car, SUV and truck that decided to take my right of way, I woldn't be able to bike to the grocery store on a bike street much less get anywhere- it seems that at every single roundabout I have to force taking the lain to avoid being pinched between the curb and a car.

Streets are shared space, we all have to follow the rules and give a little. When drivers nd bikers take their turn at the right time, act in predictable ways and signal their intentions, we all win. In spaces where uses overlap (such as bus pull outs that cross bike lanes) BOTH parties are responsible to maintain extra caution and vigilence. Being larger does not remove the obligation of the bus driver to be vigilent.

Really folks, I think that Laura Pope said it best in the original post...

"After all, this suburb is dominated by car culture. BUT A TRIMET BUS? WHAT THE HELL???"

I cannot believe some of these comments.

The boy was exactly where he was supposed to be. He had turned from where he was supposed to, into the lane where he was supposed to.

In reading about this, (in other forums) you would discover that his parents had gone over his routes with him, and made sure he knew how and where to ride, it appears even down to the exact route he took, and to go so far as to change it to protect him.

Many witnesses on the bus saw the bicyclist before he got hit. The bus driver said she did not see him.

This means that the bus driver was not looking where she should have been. It also means that she was neither doing her job as a driving citizen, nor as a employee of Tri Met.

It is very difficult to get a Tri Met bus driver held responsible for their actions.
I have tried myself,having been run off the road by buses a few times.

The worst part of it is when the bus driver is looking right at you, yelling at you, and still pulls into you.

Sound silly? Yes it does.

Sillier yet is the fact that it happens all the time, and the drivers are not held responsible, even after one goes through the proper channels and hoops to file a complaint
Tri Met is more concerned with schedules and building trains than they are with the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers alike.

Our system of supposed public transportation
is in fact the largest group of abusers on the road in Portland today.

Of course, due to the little yield triangle on the back of the bus, they have basic exclusive right of way in most situations. (we voted to give them this right foolishly years ago I belive)

A nice big Mercury expose on the atrocities of Tri Met and it's employee's is needed, now.

Well said Clutch. Tri-Met should be exposed for all of the danger they've caused the public. Most people seem to have a series of Tri-Met horror stories to tell, yet it seems to go largely unnoticed by the rest of Portland's news sources. Well, at least until a child dies.

Duncan: Busses on the other hand start and stop frequently, often pull over without signaling, and pull out without signaling. I as a bicyclist have no way of discovering their intentions if they fail to communicate, and often have to make decisions in seconds. If I yielded to every bus, car, SUV and truck that decided to take my right of way, I wouldn't be able to bike to the grocery store on a bike street much less get anywhere- it seems that at every single roundabout I have to force taking the lain to avoid being pinched between the curb and a car.

Amanda: Duncan, you forget that I'm a bicyclist, too. I live downtown. From my home by the river I go to the Stadium Fred Meyer or the Lloyd Center Safeway at least four times a week. I go out on city streets virtually daily. You sure make getting around by bike sound far more difficult than it really is, which is great if you're trying to impress those who get around by other means, but you don't impress me.

Duncan: Streets are shared space, we all have to follow the rules and give a little. When drivers and bikers take their turn at the right time, act in predictable ways and signal their intentions, we all win. In spaces where uses overlap (such as bus pull outs that cross bike lanes) BOTH parties are responsible to maintain extra caution and vigilance. Being larger does not remove the obligation of the bus driver to be vigilant.

Amanda: In no way was I excusing a driver who didn't take care (although as far as I know, that isn't the case here), but it's far easier for the bicyclist to take care and far more important, given the somewhat mosquito/sledgehammer relationship between the two. It's like my attitude toward birth control: I can feel "It takes two to tango," but as the one who might get pregnant, I take care of business myself.

Dear Clutch: From the world of perceptual science, it turns out people are much more likely to see what they are looking for. They tend to be looking for what they are most used to looking for, which is a threat to themselves. Twice now I've had close calls with car doors swinging open, a very dangerous situation for a bicyclist, as you are well aware. In both situations, I went back to yell at them and in both cases they seemed quite sincere in saying, "I looked, but I didn't see you for some reason." The eye isn't a camera. Everything is filtered by the reptilian mind. You don't notice everything in your field of vision simply because it is IN your field of vision. Most of us have had the situation where we notice something and say, "How long has that been there?" only to be told by an astonished other, "Why it's ALWAYS been there!" I wish we could depend on car and bus drivers to see us by simply insisting on it, but it's childish to think that's going to happen. That's why it's rider beware, and be ready jump off your bike or crash it (if that's the best available option). You can be killed by someone who is simply being human. Hostile bus drivers is another matter entirely, and one that of course must be addressed.

It is not sad to die. It is sad to die at the hands of another. The length of your life does not determine the quality.

People only die when they are forgotten. Being forgotten is sad.

Amanda,
I am not trying to impress you. I really don't give a damn if you are impressed. I was pointing out then when it came to your ship analogy you were talking out your ass- I work in the maritime industry, on boats every day. I bike every day I get a chance (and getting wo weeks off that tends to be a lot). And the two systems have little in common. The main reason is that in the maritime world their is a clearly established order right of way (that is not based on size) that is always followed because an accident resulting from the failure to follow that order will result in someone losing their liscence, job, and going to jail.

In the last two weeks I have beed run off the road once, hit once (thankfully at 2mph, so no harm or damage) and nearly doored (the last one in your neighborhood), all while following the rules of the road... I bike down Clinton nearly every day and at least once or twice a week somone will try and pass me in a roundabout, or race in front of me to take a right 30 feet past me. Maybe these things dont happen to you, but they seem to be pretty common in my neck of the woods, and the people who I know who bike a lot spend time talking about it, so I am not alone in my perception of this issue. Hey YMMV, and maybe in your happy bubble no one ever invades your space. I didn't have a close call for years until last week. I m not oppoosed to giving a little for shared space, but there taking is not giving, and a lot of cars seem intent on taking the space I am biking in.

You say that I am trying to make biking sound hard when it isn't- well it is. You are 23 times more likely to be injured per mile of biking as opposed to per mile of driving. You are fourteen times more likely to be injured per mile of walking vs driving. (Ill get the source if you want) Biking is something to be done with a full deck and set of wits about you because whoever makes a mistake in a bike/car interaction, it's the biker who will come out on the bottom. But every activity involves risk, and lifes to short to stay at home. I also think that driving invoves active thought and choices. Whether I am behind the wheel of a car, riding a bike or motorcycle or whatever, I believe in being present and making clear, communicated choices based on the rules of the road; its that simple.

Your expierence downtown to riding in the burbs is also an apples to oranges observation; their are indeed similarities, but major variations. I regularly bike out to Gresham and back (to get some milage) and crossing 82nd changes things a great deal; the roads are wider, raffic faster and every left turn is a major decision (get off the bike and walk the intersection, waiting five minutes for the light? or try and slide across two lanes of traffic on Division?) The general perception of bikes goes down (I have had busses pulling into the stops behind me get really close (ie inches)- (where am supposed to yield too when they are behind me?) so while I await the outcome of an investigation as to the cause of this accident I will say that I have had TriMet incidents that leave me open to the possibility of the bus failintg to yield to a bicyclist.

I also see bikers who drive erraticly; turning without signalling, lanesplitting, tking lanes on major roads while biking 10 mph, going between the road and the sidewalk.
nd this behavior makes life difficult for other bikers, as it perpetuates the us vs them paradigm of road use.

After thinking about it, I will rephrase "I didnt have a close call" to "I had never been forced to lay my bike down to avoid getting hit".