BTA Board Member John Bloss walks to work almost every day and passes the major auto, truck, bus, bike and pedestrian routes intersection at NE 12th and Irving right at Benson High School. This intersection is a little scary for cyclists, because drivers aren’t on the freeway yet but often drive like they are, and many are making their daily after-work cell phone call as they make a left turn past Benson High School. Plus, the High School students like to hang their toes off the curb and jaywalk when they shouldn’t.
Add to this a problem with parents blocking car and bike traffic as they drop their kids off at the corner, and the intersection seems like a crash waiting to happen.
What he saw on Monday, and reported back to us, was very encouraging. At the corner of this major cycling route nearest to the school there was a Portland Police Bureau cruiser and eight orange traffic safety cones blocking off the “right hook” danger zone (outlining and protecting the bike lane). According to a source at the police bureau, this is the work of School Resource Officer Tracy Bertalot.
Traffic around schools is a big problem. Research shows that in some communities 20-25% of morning traffic is attributable to kids being driven to school. And according to Wendy Kallins of Safe Routes to School at the US DOT, in half the crashes involving children walking or biking near their school the car is driven by the parent of a classmate. It’s a vicious cycle: parents think it is too dangerous to let their child walk or bike to school, so they drive them, thereby making it more dangerous for the remaining children on the street.
In the midst of this self-reinforcing cycle, Officer Bertalot has a big job ahead of her. We’re not sure if she’s motivated primarily by the danger to pedestrians, bicyclists or to auto traffic flow, but this intersection needs some attention and, under her care, it’s getting it. John says he’s seen this safety action a number of times now, and it’s encouraging that the Portland Police Bureau is being proactive about the safety of people on foot and on bike.
Thanks PPB, and keep up the good work, it’s much appreciated!
Cleveland High is on a heavily used bike route and parents and even school busses cross the bike lane to drop off kids. isolating the cars from the bikes would improve safety there as well
I was recently hit on Woodard behind Franklin HS, I called the school and the Portland Traffic Bur. People are always stopping in the middle of the street, turning without signaling, opening doors into traffic.
Great article! Thanks for covering this. It’s wonderfully encouraging both to see PPB actually protecting people from traffic, and to read some good numbers on how this problem affects children.
I would like to use some of this on my website
Great to learn about this pro-active response. Earlier this week in front of Cleveland High School, a single vehicle was dropping off a student, and tho the only car on the entire block, was parked directly in the bicycle lane. I communicated my concern to the driver, pointing out both the danger to cyclists and the abundant room for her to pull forward. Her response was that people block the bike lane all day long, and that no, she would not consider pulling forward now or in the future. So I called the police, BTA, and the high school. Hope springs eternal.