news
BY ALAN PITTMAN
Deadly Streets
Would delayed bike projects have saved a life?
W
ould a woman cycling home last
week have lived if the city had
completed long-delayed safety
improvements?
Eugene police reported that a car struck
and killed Mingo Pelkey, age 39, on River
Road at 7 pm, Aug. 29. Bystanders told
police Pelkey had her hand up to signal and
was wearing a helmet when she changed
lanes near Hunsaker and was struck from
behind by a Volkswagen Passat, according
to a press release.
The Eugene police are still investigating
the crash and have not said whether the driv-
er, James Gleich, will be cited or prosecuted.
A city project to build an underpass
around Beltline connecting to the riverfront
bike path would have allowed Pelkey to
avoid dangerous River Road to get home
from work, but the safety project has been
delayed for years.
A decade ago the regional TransPlan
responded to years of calls for a safer bike
route under Beltline by including a project
connecting the riverfront path under the
freeway. A related project included a new
bike lane on Beaver and Hunsaker streets
that would have provided a low- or no-
traffi c safe route to Pelkey’s home near
Irving and River Road.
But city and county offi cials have given
safety funding for people riding bikes a
lower priority than projects to increase car
speed. Only 2.2 percent of the funding for
metro transportation improvements goes to
bike projects, although 11 percent of the
population cycles to work in Eugene.
The Beltline underpass connector was
also delayed and doubled in cost to $2.2
million to mitigate unsafe driveways for
a gravel pit company. The city expects to
fi nally complete that long-awaited safety
improvement this fall.
But the Hunsaker/Beaver bike lane listed
as a “priority” project a decade ago appears
to remain delayed indefi nitely. Activists at
WeBikeEugene.org complained last year
that funding for the bike safety feature was
pulled mysteriously at a Metropolitan Policy
Committee meeting at the last minute.
As it stands now, a study by a city
consultant for the city’s new pedestrian and
bicycle plan identifi ed River Road as one
of the most dangerous streets in the city for
cyclists with 18 collisions involving people
on bikes over the past fi ve years.
River Road has bike lanes but the area
appears poorly planned with car-dominated
strip development served by a multitude of
driveways and hazardous, high-speed traffi c.
A draft of the city’s new bike/ped plan
identifi es intersections in need of safety
improvements but does not include Irving
and River Road near where Pelkey died.
The plan does include the Beaver/
Hunsaker bike lane and riverfront trail
connector path to bypass the busy highway
which is now the only nearby way to get
past Beltline, a freeway that walls off much
of north Eugene.
The bike/ped plan also proposes a bike
boulevard on low traffi c Park Street to the
west connecting to a new Beltline bike/
ped underpass or overpass to serve the
neighborhood.
Eugene and other cities have used
brightly painted bike boxes to more safely
allow cyclists to change lanes for turns at
intersections. Cars stop behind the box at
a red light, and bikes move to the other
side. The city has had a bike box on High
Street near City Hall for years and the city
just installed a new bike box painted bright
green at Alder and 11th.
Although prioritizing bike safety
improvements could save lives, data and
studies do not show that biking is more
deadly than driving. In Oregon, bikes
made up 2.3 percent of commuters and
2.2 percent of fatal accidents last year,
according to state and census data.
A study by a city
consultant for the city’s
new pedestrian and
bicycle plan identifi ed
River Road as one of
the most dangerous
streets in the city
for cyclists with 18
collisions involving
people on bikes over
the past fi ve years.
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Other studies have demonstrated that
when heart attacks and other health risks of
obesity are factored in, biking is actually far
safer than driving. An exhaustive, scientifi c
Dutch study last year factored accident risk,
inhaled pollution and exercise into fatality
rates and found that the average longevity
benefi ts of cycling for individuals were
about nine times greater than the accident
risks. Earlier Danish and Australian studies
found similar results.
The study did not factor in the societal
benefi ts of reduced air and greenhouse gas
pollution of more people bicycling. Danish
studies have also shown that as cycling
increases, overall accident rates decline
due to a “safety in numbers” effect as cars
become less dominant and more careful.
Even after Pelkey’s death, some
motorists reacted with violent words to the
idea that they should carefully share the
road with people on bikes. One comment
on KVAL.com compared bicycle riders to
people who intentionally walk in front of
fi ring squads. Another comment compared
riding a bike on the city’s streets to sticking
a hand in a wood chipper.
But Pelkey’s death could still help
bring safety improvements to save lives.
After a child died crossing Bailey Hill, a
hazardous road for decades, the city fi nally
completed a new crosswalk last year, three
years too late.
ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 13