Bicycle rider injured in right hook collision on SE Hawthorne at 7th

Scene from the collision.
(Photo: E.S.)

Two people collided with each other while using Southeast Hawthorne Blvd around 1:30 pm yesterday. One person was riding a bicycle and the other was driving a car.

The Portland Police Bureau didn’t give us many details; but they’ve confirmed it happened and they say the bicycle rider has non life-threatening injuries. Images and updates posted to Twitter show a bicycle pinned under the right front wheel of a mid-sized Volkswagen SUV. Police and an ambulance responded to the scene. The bicycle rider was conscious before being taken to a local hospital. We’ll update this post as soon as we know more.

Eastbound view of Hawthorne as it approaches 7th.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The current cross-section allows auto users to drive in five lanes. There are three standard vehicle lanes, two lanes for parking cars, and one bicycling-only lane. The bike lane has green coloring as it approaches the intersection and a bike box at the intersection.

This latest incident is very frustrating. We know this is a hot-spot for collisions; but we aren’t doing enough — fast enough — to mitigate the danger.

Eastbound Hawthorne is one of the busiest corridors in the cities and ranks near the top for bicycling and transit use with over 7,000 trips (combined) per day. Because it’s on a slight decline, bicycling speeds are higher than usual, and there’s no physical protection between car and bike users. In 2016 the city’s transportation bureau sought funding to update the street with a protected bikeway and signal improvements. At that time PBOT referred to this section of Hawthorne as “one of the city’s highest bicycle crash corridors” with 55 reported bike crashes between 2004 and 2013.

In 2007, after two Portlanders were killed while bicycling due to right-hooks, PBOT unveiled its first bike boxes. SE Hawthorne and 7th was on the list of the first 14 Portland intersections to receive what was then an innovative treatment (at least for the U.S.).

In 2009, the infamous disappearing bike lane case that also involved a right-hook collision, happened just a few blocks away at SE 10th.

In 2010 PBOT repaved Hawthorne between SE Grand and 12th and used that opportunity to widen the bike lane to six feet.

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PBOT’s plans for improvements at 7th unveiled in 2016. Note how the lane changes, bus island, and buffer zone next to the bike lane would create more visibility and encourage auto users to drive more cautiously.

Despite these incremental improvements, bicycling on this section of Hawthorne is nowhere near as safe as it should be for vulnerable road users. 12 years after PBOT identified this intersection as a top cycling safety priority, the infrastructure still lags behind our adopted plans and goals. And the consequence is more danger, more injury, more fear — and not surprisingly, fewer people who will choose to ride bicycles.

Latest cross-section from Central City in Motion Plan.

Another view of 7th and Hawthorne from PBOT’s Central City in Motion Plan.

PBOT’s latest attempt to address this problem is the Central City in Motion Plan adopted by City Council in November of last year. Project #12 (which made the first-phase implementation list for construction in years 1-5). The project would redesign Hawthorne between 6th and 12th and includes a reduction of auto parking availability, bus islands to improve transit efficiency, and a physically protected bike lane.

As we saw earlier this month when a person was killed by an auto user while walking across SW Salmon — at another intersection awaiting significant updates (also via the Central City in Motion Plan) that could have prevented a tragedy — these updates cannot happen soon enough.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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The post Bicycle rider injured in right hook collision on SE Hawthorne at 7th appeared first on BikePortland.org.

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