Bike Rally
Posted on November 21st, 2007 | by LevWhile I have mostly focused on family matters thus far, I hope to use this blog for the occasional post about other goings on in our lives. Marti are both avid bicyclists. Aside from a fabulous recreational activity, commuting by bike brings you closer to your community, is healthy for both the individual and community, is cheaper, and, in many cases, faster than driving. I could go on. Last month in the Portland, there were a spate of tragic bike/car crashes, with two of them resulting in deaths. You can read the details on Jonathan Maus’s blog, Bike Portland. These tragedies were exacerbated by the reaction of the police. In at least the two fatal collisions, the cars were clearly at fault as they had failed to yield to the bicyclists who were legally in the bike lane. The police failed to fault the drivers, or even issue citations. Their message was that is was somehow the bicyclists fault, that the drivers couldn’t be expected to see the bikes. Excuse me - since when is that a valid excuse for something?
The Portland bike community has held several rallies, there have been press conferences, and Sam Adams is leading a crusade at the city level to make some immediate changes to improve the safety of the roads. There was a rally last week, and the aunt of one of the victims gave this touching and meaningful speach.
