Phrases and pictures by Sarah Risser. Risser was a visitor on the BikePortland Podcast again in March.
2023 was a devastating, record-setting yr for street fatalities in Portland. 69 individuals had been violently killed in a crash, the best quantity in over three a long time. The grim statistics elicited concern, however not practically sufficient to rally the vitality and sources wanted to meaningfully deal with the issue. America has been immersed in a car-centric transportation tradition for many years which has conditioned us to dismiss road-traffic violence as simply one thing we’ve got to dwell with, for a lot of it’s merely background noise. Nevertheless, the normalization of street site visitors violence isn’t grounds to for continued complacency and indifference. We all know that the majority street fatalities are preventable, however that it’s going to require onerous tradeoffs and political will to successfully deal with the issue and create actually protected and livable streets.
My inspiration to put an indication at each deadly crash web site got here from a need to assist individuals see how widespread Portland’s street security downside is and pay tribute to those that have made the final word sacrifice to our car-centric transportation system.
I believed if individuals noticed an increasing number of indicators all through town, they may start to know the scope of the issue. I had a whole lot of assist getting this mission off the bottom and could be remiss to not point out them: Households for Secure Streets Founder Amy Cohen generously paid for the indicators and former BikeLoud PDX Chair Aaron Kuehn supplied format and design help together with fellow BikeLoud member Claire Vlach. BikeLoud additionally paid for zip-ties and different associated bills, and Oregon Walks was an all-around booster of the mission.
I wasn’t in a position to share particulars on each fatality, however please perceive they’re all equally tragic and necessary in their very own distinctive manner. These which have been highlighted are illustrative of different points or proved to be extra poignant for me personally as I positioned the signal.
With that, beneath is my journal of a yr putting indicators at Portland’s deadly crash websites:
January 1st
My mission, sadly, commenced instantly. At 10:00 pm on January 1st, 32-year-old Jesse Loyer rear-ended a automobile stopped at a light-weight on 82nd Ave together with his new Harley Davidson bike. Loyer left behind his spouse Stacey and two babies, Judah James and child River Rae. I felt compelled to go to the crash web site early the following morning. After I arrived, the site visitors was flowing like a torrential present, distracting me to such an extent that I wouldn’t have observed the crash web site until I used to be in search of it. After I noticed the purple police tape, I made my manner over and famous a pile of particles, some damaged glass, and a single shoe. As I crouched all the way down to take an image, a younger man in a big hoodie rounded the nook, palms in his pockets and shoulders slumped ahead, with a vivid, wide-eyed, little lady who stayed shut by his aspect earlier than hopping up on a bench to attend for her college bus — straight in entrance of the exact location the place a person had been violently killed. Her college bus got here shortly, and she or he climbed on board, blissfully unaware, I hope.
January twenty third
January twenty fourth
January twenty sixth
For an impressed instance of a life effectively lived, try Chuck Preisch’s obituary. Chuck moved to Portland from Cleveland to be nearer to his children the place he did many issues, together with including colour to Portland’s meals truck scene because the “Sizzling Canine Physician.”
January twenty seventh
I discovered a bouquet of flowers once I went to put an indication for Floyd William Charlan Jr. on SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Freeway. A heavyset girl who seemed to be in her 60s approached, fascinated with studying the signal. As she scanned the textual content, she turned emotional, and thanked me for my concern and efforts. “This street is so harmful,” she mentioned, shaking her head, “individuals drive manner too quick.” She informed me her neighbors had been upset however not stunned. “Everyone seems to be bothered by how busy the road is, and the way onerous it’s to cross,” she mentioned, “we had been all anticipating a tragedy equivalent to this.” The girl informed me that she takes care of her little granddaughter a few days every week. Her daughter rents a smaller, older, costlier unit just a few blocks away, as a result of she refuses to lift her youngster beside such a busy, noisy, harmful street.
February 4th
February fifth
February seventh
District 4 has the fewest crashes within the metropolis of Portland, which is stunning given the dearth of sidewalks and bike lanes. Lots of the roads all through SW Portland wind and curve with restricted visibility and slim or nonexistent shoulders.
Peter Pellegrin was driving his scooter when he was concerned in a crash with a automobile only a few blocks from his dwelling. The signal we positioned was not comforting to his household. Moderately it was a continuing and unsightly reminder of their loss which exacerbated emotions of grief and evoked legitimate anger towards this signal mission for doubtlessly politicizing a fatality. The signal was eliminated instantly. The household additionally requested PBOT take away their digital signage, a request that was additionally revered.
February ninth
Neighborhood members gathered on North Portland Highway to put in a Ghost Bike for Jason Ruhmshottel (the only real bicycle owner fatality of 2023) on the request of his household. I used to be an honored and privileged to work on this and be current with Jason’s household for the set up. Brian Davies on the Neighborhood Biking Heart supplied a motorcycle, which I scrubbed down earlier than making use of a number of layers of white spray paint to over the course of many days.
Along with Jason’s household, a lot of group members confirmed up for the set up. The household needed it positioned the place Jason’s physique had landed after he was hit. We locked the bike in place as semis and vehicles sped by. The household adorned the bike with flowers to stunning impact.
Roadside memorials are necessary for a lot of causes. They draw consideration to harmful roads, honor victims, and sometimes present consolation for the household. Many, together with me, see them as heartfelt people artwork. I used to be in a position to go to Jason’s ghost bike once more in early November. I used to be impressed, after seeing Jason’s bike it adorned for Halloween in such a contented manner, by how beloved Jason is and the way necessary his ghost bike is for the household’s means to honor and grieve.
February tenth
Christian Perez Hernandez and his buddy Gabriel Sanchez had been road racing once they crashed and their automobile went up in flames. I used to be struck by the stark distinction between the charred define of their automobile with the fragile bouquets left for the boys on the crash web site.
On condition that we all know velocity is a think about practically 30% of all crashes and that younger males usually tend to have interaction in dangerous conduct, I query why the auto trade is allowed to fabricate and flood our world with automobiles able to attaining, unnecessarily lethal speeds. This yr Households for Secure Streets and the Imaginative and prescient Zero Community despatched robust communications to Gavin Newsom encouraging him to help CA SB961, a landmark invoice that may require Clever Velocity Help in all new automobiles manufactured or bought in CA starting in 2030. A win in California would ship a powerful sign to Auto Producers. Sadly, Governor Newsom vetoed the invoice after it handed each the State Senate and Meeting and garnered appreciable nationwide help.
February tenth
An intoxicated driver hit the automobile Wael Zahran and his mates had been in, pinning him within the again seat. Zahran, 23, died after being transferred to the hospital. Zahran’s mom, who doesn’t dwell in america, was unable to attend her son’s funeral, which occurred to be held on his birthday. His buddy, Nariman Mosharaf was severely injured within the crash, struggling a mind bleed, concussion, and a punctured liver which required surgical procedure. Along with his suite of life-altering accidents, Nariman was left with a pile of medical payments that he didn’t have the sources to pay. His buddy organized a GoFundMe to assist. It’s crucially necessary, when calculating the complete price of street violence, to incorporate the numerous crashes that go away victims with debilitating accidents and monetary burdens. Insurance coverage so typically doesn’t cowl the complete prices related to a crash and the sufferer is commonly left holding the bag. Many who survive a crash, equivalent to ‘Nari’ are unable to work as they get better, compounding the monetary burdens and stress.
February 14th
By the point Jeremy Bankston, 38, was killed, year-to-date deadly crashes in Portland had been monitoring larger than 2023. Thomas Shults of KGW8 Information reached out to see if I might speak on behalf of Households for Secure Streets. I advised we meet me at Bankston’s crash web site the place I supposed to place up an indication. Coincidentally Bankston’s household and I arrived on the very residential web site in NE on the identical time. The household was there to put flowers on what seemed like non-public property and grieve. They appreciated the signal and thanked me saying they agree that we have to increase consciousness about how harmful site visitors is. They had been too shaken to talk with the tv reporter. ‘I can’t do it,’ Bankston’s sister mentioned, ‘I’d burst into tears in entrance of the digicam.’ As a part of his protection, Shults additionally interviewed ODOT Spokesperson Don Hamilton who attributed Portland’s street fatality downside largely to a rise in irresponsible, reckless driving.
February 23th
February twenty fifth
This fatality isn’t thought-about or counted as a street fatality by town of Portland, as a result of the at-fault driver, utilizing his Chevy Malibu as a weapon, deliberately sped up and hit Bentley early within the morning on February twenty fifth. Portland doesn’t embrace homicides or suicides of their official tally of street fatalities and this, by all accounts, was a murder. It was the primary occasion in 2024 (in Portland) the place a automobile was used deliberately as a weapon to kill.
Later that spring on March 30, the group confirmed as much as honor Bentley by putting in a ghost bike on the crash web site. Claire Vlach and Hami Ramani led a experience from Tom McCall Park the place a big group had gathered. David’s mom arrived on a Lyft Scooter simply earlier than the experience commenced. The group rode to the crash web site the place a number of individuals spoke, together with Claire, David’s mom, and a lot of David’s mates. I had positioned an indication earlier which had been eliminated. With assist from Hami Ramini, Joe Perez, and Shawne Martinez, we positioned it larger.
March twelfth
March twentieth
2024’s youngest street site visitors sufferer, four-year-old Kingston Coston, was killed within the again seat of the automobile his mom was driving whereas dashing and inebriated. I don’t point out this to disgrace his mom, who won’t ever get better from this tragedy. In reality, my coronary heart goes out to her. We now have not addressed DUI in something near a rational or rigorous manner. It’s misguided for my part to count on individuals impaired by alcohol to make logical selections their means to drive safely. This method has by no means labored and by no means will. Furthermore, we’ve got tolerated a transportation system so lethal that tens of 1000’s of People unintentionally kill different street customers yearly.
We now have the expertise to stop automobiles from beginning ought to the driving force be inebriated and we badly want the political will to demand that it’s put in in each new automobile. NHTSA has initiated steps to combine drunk driving prevention expertise into new automobiles as an ordinary function, however there’s resistance. BikeLoud and Households for Secure Streets submitted a remark in favor of this requirement simply days earlier than the crash that claimed Kingston’s life.
April 2nd
April eighth
Could 4th
Could twenty ninth
June third
June sixth
June 14th
June twenty fifth
Three younger males had been driving a stolen automobile (though it appears police didn’t understand the automobile had been stolen till after the lethal crash occurred), when, in keeping with KGW, Gresham Police tried to cease Jayden Rolon-Ekis, who was behind the wheel with two mates within the automobile. A chase ensued. Earlier than hitting a utility pole that knocked out energy, Rolon-Ekis hit one other automobile.
The prices of police chases are astronomical and, for my part, unacceptable. One dashing automobile poses a hazard to the group. When officers willfully have interaction in a chase they’re growing the hazard twofold, and attainable extra by incentivizing even quicker driving within the automobile they’re pursuing.
Dylan and Jayden had been sophomores at Ida B Wells earlier than not too long ago transferring to Portland Neighborhood School. They each died on the scene. Cole succumbed to his accidents inside two weeks. The human mind isn’t totally developed till age 25, and teenaged males are susceptible to dangerous and impulsive behaviors. It is usually true, that velocity is a think about over 30% of all deadly crashes; velocity contributes disproportionately to kinetic vitality, which is the reason for all deadly and critical accidents.
July eleventh
July 14th
July twenty fifth
August 2nd
Malcom Braman and Nicholas McGuire misplaced their lives evading Gresham law enforcement officials. The Gresham and Portland police had joined forces to interrupt up the West Coast Invitational, a road takeover occasion. In a press briefing, Portland Police emphasised that the occasion would entice younger, inexperienced, drivers, presumably the kind that’s more likely to crash when driving recklessly at excessive speeds. In the course of the multi-agency response, Gresham officers tried to tug Braman over for dashing, however Braman fled the scene. The Gresham Police started an intense pursuit which concerned the Portland Air Help Unit and extra officers to deploy spike strips.
The irony right here is stark: The police exacerbated hazard to themselves, the fleeing automobile, and most people by participating in a lethal chase with a driver they knew with close to certainty to be younger, inexperienced, and more likely to crash. Braman crashed right into a utility pole at NE 122nd and Marx, rolled his automobile, and died on the scene. McGuire was transported to the hospital the place he later died of his accidents. Had the Gresham police not engaged in a reckless pursuit these two males would seemingly be alive.
August fifth
August seventh
August fifteenth
August sixteenth
After I arrived at Ankeny Plaza, I used to be charmed and distracted in a manner that felt inappropriate. I used to be right here to honor a life misplaced in street site visitors, however there was a lot to absorb and be taught in regards to the historical past of Portland at this web site. I wandered in regards to the plaza taking photographs of the arches, till an unhoused man hopping behind a walker approached. He had misplaced a part of his proper leg and had tied a colourful swath of fleece cloth to his left ankle, which trailed behind him like a tail. His smile drew me to him, and we talked for some time. He informed me his leg needed to be partially amputated after he sustained a extreme case of frostbite in final winter’s ice storm, however that he doesn’t miss his misplaced limb. He mentioned he likes his leg higher now as a result of it doesn’t get in the way in which if he needs to swing it round and do tips. He leaned ahead, participating his sculpted arm muscle tissue, and swung his amputated limb up and over his walker, beaming. He let me take his image, which I treasure.
This was, with out query, probably the most stunning crash web site I’ve ever visited. I got here again later to hold a string of paper cranes to mark the place to begin for Oregon Walks’ guided stroll to the World Day of Remembrance at Metropolis Corridor.
September 4th
September 18th
September twentieth
September twenty seventh
October 18th
October twenty first
When a bicycle owner is killed in Portland, it hits the group onerous. It didn’t take lengthy for the information to begin to flow into on the morning of October 21 {that a} male bicycle owner had been killed at NE Glisan and 128th, straight in entrance of Menlo Park Elementary Faculty at 2:37 AM. BikePortland had an article on the incident posted by 7:37 AM, precisely 5 hours after the crash. Messages started flying across the BikeLoud slack channel. Sure, a vigil was so as, however how necessary was the timing? Ought to we collect instantly or wait to get elected leaders concerned? How necessary was it to know who, precisely, was killed, the place it occurred, and why it occurred? Because the biking group wrestled with these questions information of a second bicycle owner fatality broke. At 9:00 a.m. that very same day, simply 3.4 miles north of the primary crash, at NE Marx and one hundred and fifth, one other younger man had been killed. Sure, a vigil was so as.
Within the days that adopted, BikePortland supplied intensive protection of the 2 crashes, though there have been official gaps in data together with the names of the victims. This protection was initially upsetting for the mom of the bicycle owner killed at NE Marx. She posted a remark asking the group to respect the household’s privateness and declaring that the eye is disrespectful to these experiencing grief. How might any of us perceive precisely what the household was going by means of and the way protection of their private tragedy would land? The very last thing we needed to do was upset the household, who was undoubtedly in a state of shock and profound grief.
BikeLoud and Households for Secure Streets determined to carry a silent vigil for Damon Cousins, the NE Marx sufferer, to respect the household to the extent attainable and never come throughout as politicizing the tragedy. Information of the vigil was posted on BikePortland, which momentarily exacerbated Damon Cousin’s mom’s frustration. When she discovered that the group simply needed to honor her son she opened as much as the concept. Not solely was she superb with it, she needed to be there.
I confirmed up early with Damon’s ghost bike and talked with Damon’s mother. I felt profoundly moved as she confirmed me an image of Damon on her cellphone. The picture was putting in its energy and sweetness. She shared different issues about Damon – what sports activities groups he cheered for, what he beloved to do, that he had a quiet, unassuming character. Collectively we affixed balloons and lights to the bike as just a few extra single cyclists arrived. We started to collect in silence. Shortly a gaggle of cyclists appeared cresting the hill in an extended line and gliding all the way down to the intersection in silence. I might see Damon’s mom’s eyes effectively up with tears.
We stood largely in silence. A number of individuals mentioned just a few phrases. BikeLoud volunteer Steve Cheseborough performed music on his harmonica. Our collective hearts ached. We supplied the household what we might, which wasn’t practically sufficient – we confirmed up and stood with the household and tried our greatest to convey how a lot we cared.
Folks then rode to NE Glisan and 128th the place Sergio Hunt was killed, and held a second vigil. At this web site just a few individuals spoke on the significance of addressing Portland’s street fatality disaster.
October twenty fourth
October twenty eighth
November 1st
November sixth
I wasn’t in a position to place an indication at each 2024 deadly crash web site in Portland. I selected to not place indicators on the freeway and the previous couple of websites of the yr are nonetheless excellent. In some methods this mission felt like an effort, however solely by way of bodily attending to the websites. As soon as I arrived, I felt a way of privilege to honor the sufferer and a way of goal that I used to be drawing consideration to how unsafe Portland’s roads are. This mission has additionally been about letting the household and group know that individuals care, that the victims are seen, and that many teams and people are working to make our roads safer for everybody.
I intend to maintain placing up indicators all through 2025. If you happen to’d prefer to be concerned, please contact me at sarah.risser@gmail.com.
