Post-crash Reflections

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Dave Feucht
Portland morning

Last night I was riding home from work along the Waterfront path on the West side of the river. This is a shared path, as basically all non-road paths in Portland are, and it is used by a lot of people, both walking and riding bikes. It’s used for recreation, for transportation, for relaxation. Most of you who live in Portland will be very familiar with it, as it is one of Portland’s most iconic and well-used public spaces.

Anyway, I was riding home, heading North, as the person in front of me started to veer to the left, across my path. I saw him, braked, veered to the left as well, and shouted. He saw me, and all would have been fine, except the person behind me was going way too fast to stop in time, and slammed right into the back/side of me.

I kind of tumbled off my bike and landed on my arm and then rolled a little, scraped up a couple of my knuckles and bruised my elbow pretty good. My shoulders and back are also fairly sore today from hitting the ground.

The guy who hit me from behind hit the ground so hard that his stem got twisted about 45 degrees off-center from the wheel, his right brake lever was completely bent sideways (and we weren’t able to bend it back), his plastic goggles shattered into dozens of pieces, and he had a pretty good gash on the side of his face from the goggles. I’m assuming his face must have hit the ground when he went down. He was very dazed, but seemed ok overall, and we all stayed around for a few minutes to make sure he was ok. He was bleeding from the gash, but seemed coherent and no other major pains were evident.

The guy in front of me felt horrible and wasn’t sure he’d ever ride his bike again, and the guy who ran into me was also very apologetic and admitted he was going too fast to stop or veer out of the way.

So, there’s the more-or-less factual recounting of the story. Now a couple of thoughts.

Firstly, I’m really glad that guy was riding a bike and not driving a car. If he had been driving a car somewhere with the same insistence on driving faster than the surroundings warranted and ended up with an unexpected situation in front of him, he may well have killed someone (possibly himself). I both don’t want anyone to die that way, and I don’t want anyone to have to live with that kind of thing the rest of their lives.

Secondly, this just highlights to me a general cultural issue that we face, and that is that we 1) tend to feel like we need to rush everywhere, even that we have a right, or even an imperative to do so and 2) we tend not to think about the consequences of our actions until the consequences kick us in the teeth.

It seems like often when you actually hear details about someone who kills or seriously injures someone with an automobile, their response is “I didn’t mean to, I feel terrible, I just didn’t think it was dangerous, etc”. The problem here is, we are not taught that we are responsible for the welfare of other people, that we are responsible for keeping our own behavior in check so that it doesn’t harm others. Because of that, we don’t take it seriously until we really do harm another person unintentionally, and we’re suddenly faced with the direct mental and emotional consequences of that.

Instead, we’re taught that our job is to protect ourselves against whatever could happen to us. As a result, we strap ourselves in, and then feel free to drive/ride in a way we feel protected from, but others are not (and in reality, nobody is completely, it’s a false sense of security in the first place).

All it takes to remedy this is a little bit of moderation and forethought. If the guy who hit me last night would have just been riding at a reasonable speed for that path, nobody would have gone down at all, nobody would have been injured, nobody would have had their property damaged, nobody would have had to feel guilty, nobody would have any emotional trauma.

The same is the case in so many automobile collisions, whether the collision is between a car and something else, or two or more cars. If the people involved would simply have adjusted their driving to be appropriate for the conditions, in many cases the unexpected circumstances that happened wouldn’t have caused a collision, or it would have been much more minor.

From a policy and infrastructure point of view, we need to get on the ball and start hammering home that speed kills. Excessive speed is the cause of so many deaths and injuries, and all for what? So you can get to work or home a few minutes earlier? So you can stop at the next stoplight for 30 seconds longer? What does anyone really gain in the end besides a modicum of convenience?

Yet from a policy and infrastructure perspective, we design for excessive speed, we allow people to drive well over the speed limits and to feel as if that’s normal and acceptable, and we make people feel guilty, and in some places we even give them traffic citations, for going too far under the speed limit. In other areas of society as well (health care for instance) we also tend to be rather reactionary, only treating a patient once there is something wrong, and not giving them the knowledge or the tools to continue relatively healthy through their entire life. These things are beginning to change as we see that we simply can’t keep up if we’re reactionary about everything, but it is changing slowly. Even looking at citizen viewpoints, many people oppose separated bicycle infrastructure, essentially because they won’t be able to ride 25mph on it (because most of the other people on it will be going slower).

So here’s the thing. I don’t think many people are really out to hurt people. Very few. I think we’re raised in an environment that encourages us not to care until it’s too late. Then we really care, because we do indeed care about the welfare of other people, and we ended up seriously damaging it, without even “doing” anything (except for not doing anything).

Anyway, that’s about it. Living well is the best revenge, as R.E.M. put it so well. Go out and care, whatever you happen to be doing. Hopefully it will spread.

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  • http://twitter.com/BobbinNSprocket Bobbin and Sprocket

    I don’t know if it’s actually that people are raised to not care until it’s too late, maybe some are. It seems to me that most people intend to drive/cycle safe, believe that they are doing so, and also maybe subconsciously think that they are impervious to accidents. That those things only happen to really bad drivers. That they believe they are good people and can do no harm. But most accidents are caused by good people who believe that they are operating their vehicles safely. Maybe if everyone left their homes each day and got into/onto their vehicle of choice with the assumption that by doing so might make this their last day, then perhaps we would all use more caution.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      That’s partly what I mean, that people don’t take seriously the gravity of the situation until after they’ve already hurt someone. We’re taught that if we don’t drink and drive, and drive within the lines most of the time, we’re ok. In a similar vein, we feel ok simply for riding a bike, because we’re ‘being responsible’ – but it takes more thought than that. Just simply getting on a bike instead of in a car doesn’t make you more responsible if you ride your bike in such a way that you can’t control it, in a place you can hurt people with it. But we’re told more often to think about our own welfare than others’.

  • http://www.facebook.com/arebensdorf Antonio Rebensdorf

    Thanks for speaking of this, Dave. I have often thought that the reason that people percieve riding as “unsafe” is that riders themselves do not always conduct themselves in a safe manner. Thats when we start to feel like we need helmets, and special shoes, and creams for our butts…..I’d much rather have a nice slow, relaxing ride on my old raleigh, without the need for a helmet. Believe it or not I still arrive everywhere on time! I hope you heal quickly from your crash.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Well, the thing is, there is a time and place to go fast, to push yourself really hard, and to ride to the limits of your ability. That time and place is not on a crowded multi-use path going to and from work. You have to think about your circumstances and ride accordingly. I think when you are pushing yourself to your limits, it’s not a bad idea to wear some protective gear, but you shouldn’t be pushing your limits in situations when there are other people around who didn’t agree to take that risk, that you might go past your limit and hurt someone.

      Unfortunately, in many cases, our traffic is engineered to keep people at their limits, and I think that’s why there are so many crashes – because it only takes one little slip up and everything unravels.

      If we all drove and rode well within our limits when simply going from one place to another, we wouldn’t feel the same angst and fear about traffic, and rightly so, because we would all be more in control.

  • Melita

    “The problem here is, we are not taught that we are responsible for the welfare of other people, that we are responsible for keeping our own behavior in check so that it doesn’t harm others. Because of that, we don’t take it seriously until we really do harm another person unintentionally, and we’re suddenly faced with the direct mental and emotional consequences of that.”

    This is an issue I’ve been wrestling with generally – not just in cycling. I see this happening in workplaces, in social groups, in classrooms, online… Thank you for expressing it so coherently!!

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yes, I think that issue stretches very far into American culture, and much of what goes on – from the behavior of banks and corporations, to the prevalence of traffic collisions – is partly influenced by that kind of attitude.

  • twowheeltravel

    Ouch! that’s gonna leave a mark! Hope you’re alright.

  • peteathome

    It’s not just excess speed, it’s lack of concern for other people in your environment. I was injured in a crash somewhat similar to yours, on the opposite side of the country but on a shared path almost identical to yours ( The Philadelphia River Path near the Art Museum). I had commuted quite a distance and was going about 12 mph. I was passing another bicyclist when he suddenly veered left into me – I hadn’t realized he was wearing headphones and was oblivious. He moved about 4 feet and crashed into me and we went down and then another bike behind me who was also going about 12 mph crashed into me. I was injured and my bike was damage. the kid who veered left into me picked up his bike and biked off while we yelled at him to stop. This is when I started avoiding paths, realizing drivers tended to be more aware of their environment than many bicyclists.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yep, and along with that goes the inability or unwillingness to be aware enough of your surroundings to ride/drive appropriately. I mean, if you’re riding in the road on a main street, going 20+ mph might be appropriate, but it isn’t on a multi-use path, and you have to think about what you’re doing enough to adjust your behavior appropriately to each situation.

      In the same vein, I feel like a lot of people drive faster and more impatiently when conditions are poor (that is, rainy, foggy, dark, etc), which is the exact opposite of what should happen. When you can’t see, you should be *more* careful, not less.

      Definitely being aware of what’s going on around us is not always one of our strong points.

    • mk

      I have to say, having been hit so many times by drivers despite my vehicular cycling style, I dont think that drivers are more aware. I think the statistics are on my side with this. But I sympathize with your problem. I think we all need to be more aware

      • peteathome

        Weird how our experiences differ. Despite biking 4000 miles a year for 25+ years, I have never been hit by a car and have seldom had a close call. In fact my only bicycle/automobile accident was when I rear-ended a stopped car due to being distracted. Yet I’ve had several collisions on bike paths, none due to my actions.

  • MF in Minnesota

    I spent 4 years in Sweden for my graduate work. One thing I noticed was a difference in attitude about effects on other people. This was exemplified by the signs in the laundry. In Sweden, the signs I saw instructed one to clean out the lint trap in the dryer AFTER drying your clothes. In the US, the usual sign instructs you to clean out the lint trap BEFORE drying your clothes. The US attitude is “look out for #1″ – admirable in its own way in that you tend not to ask other people to do this for you. But in Sweden the attitude is “be concerned about your effect on others”. Ultimately this seems more conducive to a well-conducted civilization.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      We watch a fair amount of Japanese Anime, and one of the biggest themes that comes up in them is the idea that your actions effect other people, and also that it’s normal and natural for people to depend on each other, not to be stoic, monolithic creatures. Both ideas kind of run directly counter to the stereotypical American ideals of independence and autonomy.

      It’s not that some independence and autonomy is a bad thing, but we flew to the far extreme (as in many things), and kind of threw out our responsibility to the whole of society in the process.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      I just checked the other day, and indeed, the laundry instructions in our apartment’s laundry room state to clean the lint filter *before* you dry your clothes.

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/poetas/8266696899/

  • http://www.facebook.com/kiel.johnson.37 Kiel Johnson

    I am amazed that there are not more crashes on the waterfront path. The mix of commuters and oblivious tourists seems plus those giant boat anchor cleat things seems like a recipe for disaster. Once I even called Portland Parks to ask why there isn’t a separated bike path. I have often thought that this would be a good place to try to mobilize a group to promote some better facilities. At the same time I wonder if having a separated facility would just lead to more people riding faster and more incidents like the one you described. I am certainly forced to pay more attention and slow down with the way things are.

    The other thing that grinds my gears about the waterfront is that it has become a park solely for the use of summer festivals. Every year the festivals come every weekend during the summer, blocking off most of the park, and then they have to fence it off to regrow the grass for the next three months. Who is the park for?

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Heya Kiel,

      Yeah, that’s a big issue with all mixed-use paths – you have a lot of different people behaving in different ways all trying to share the same space, and it usually just doesn’t work very well.

      At least with bicycles riding on roads with cars, for the most part you’re all just going in one direction with a little back and forth changing lanes or turning. It’s tricky because cars move too fast, but in terms of patterns of movement, they aren’t *that* different. On paths like this, you have bicycle traffic going considerably faster than people walking, people walking or jogging, suddenly darting across the path, or stopping without warning, dogs, children playing – it can be really chaotic when it’s busy.

      A separated path might not be too bad, as long as it was wide enough to allow passing. It seems to me that a lot of times there are enough people riding through there that it would keep people from using it as a race track, at least, as much as it currently deters people from using it as a race track :)

      The issue with the waterfront path, I think, is that it is technically a park, and not a transportation corridor, so it isn’t primarily viewed by the city as a means to move people through the area, even though it’s a much better transportation corridor for bikes than Naito Parkway, which is basically a small highway.

      With regard to the use of the park, I’ve often thought the same thing. We spend much of the summer with parts of the path blocked off (again, park, not transportation corridor), and then all autumn with parts of the grass fenced off (with the fence sitting in part of the path). I thought it was pretty ironic that the city and the media got all uppity about the Occupy camp downtown ruining the grass in Chapman Square, when they intentionally destroy the grass in much of the waterfront park (a much larger area) at least twice every year. Kind of silly.

  • Sarah

    Huh. I just noticed today that my RSS feed for your blog had stopped working. I removed it and re-added it, and it seems to work now, but I hadn’t seen this post until today! Ack! I’m glad you’re OK.

    The need for speed you mention reminds me of this awesome article by Jan Gehl about the paradox of using a car to save time:

    http://gehlcitiesforpeople.dk/2012/07/17/addicted-to-speed-slow-down-save-time-and-be-wealthy/

    He points out that “by choosing not to own a car, an average income earner could have a shorter work week, or retire 10 to 15 years earlier”.

    And I also find it maddening that the focus is always on how not to get hurt rather than how not to hurt. It really is pervasive. The first thing that came to my mind is how during campus orientation at universities across the U.S., women are told what to do to reduce their chances of being sexually assaulted, but there isn’t a corresponding lecture explaining how to avoid assaulting others. Frat houses across the land could use some lessons about this! But year after year, it’s “don’t get assaulted”, not “don’t assault”, which I find to be completely appalling.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      That is a good article from Gehl – also Energy and Equity, which is referenced a number of times in there, is also excellent.

      America has institutionalized victim-blaming in so many ways. From the “if you didn’t want sex, you wouldn’t have worn that sheer blouse” to “you weren’t wearing a helmet, so you were asking to have your insides splattered all over the road”. It runs through all levels of society, through transportation issues, gender issues, class issues, economic issues – there is a pervasive tendency (I’m not saying it always happens, but there is a tendency) to blame the victim of an action for not protecting themselves well enough, rather than to try to figure out how to prevent the action that caused it in the first place. It’s one of the biggest reasons I feel at such discord with American society.

      I’m much more of the belief that every person has a responsibility to every other person, to behave in a way, in all situations, that aims to avoid harming. I feel like, though this is a bit utopian, other societies who make a big deal of the importance of this kind of attitude come much closer than we do to realizing it in their citizens.

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  • bethany

    Thank you for articulating my frustration with the SUV population on the roads. SUVs don’t make the roads safer, they (arguably) make SUV occupants safer. As a Geo Metro driver, it means that I am more likely to be blinded by your lights, have my view blocked by your outsize body, and be more completely crushed if we do impact. Everyone has a right to drive what they want, but I wish there were more awareness of the consequences of our decisions on the whole system.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yes, exactly – there is this huge push in the U.S. to make traffic on the roads go faster and faster, to be more and more extreme, and the ‘sanctioned’ reaction to this is to buy a bigger car that protects you better, isolates you more from the outside world. The result of that, is that the roads get even more dangerous, for anyone who cannot afford to, or would prefer not to drive a giant boat.

      If, on the other hand, the reaction was to slow down traffic, and encourage people to drive/ride/walk responsibly, rather than simply blindly following the rules of the road (such as stopping at a stop sign and then going without looking, or simply flying through an intersection totally unaware of your surroundings, just because there isn’t a stop sign) and pushing faster and bigger, we would all be safer, calmer, have more money, we would be healthier, and our public space would feel radically different.

  • http://www.facebook.com/karen.voyercaravona Karen Voyer-Caravona

    A very thoughtful post and the topice is one that has been with me for quite a while. We really are responsible for one another. I can’t imagine going through life any other way, assuming that my agenda is the only one. Phoenix streets are designed for speed without a doubt. I recently attended a meeting devoted to bike infrastructure and one of the presentations focused on street classifications. Sure enough, one of the aims is to move people quickly. The average traveling speed truly appalled me. Why is traveling fast the important issue when you aren’t a race car driver – or is everyone just supposed to pretend that they are.
    I’m not going to claim that traveling to school and my internship is quicker than by car. I’m sure that it’s not but I getting to where I need to go is no longer a competition for the best parking space or a race to beat the red light. I really enjoy my commute. I love the fresh air and the exchange of greetings with complete strangers. I do believe I am living well, much better actually, than when I was focused on zero – 60.
    Anyway, our recent presidential election and all the controversy over Romney’s requent gaffs hopefully generated some much needed discussion about who is responsible for what and to whom. I much prefer living in a community where we look out for each other than one where it’s every man for himself.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Agreed on all counts.