Mean Streets
Bike rider alleges TriMet driver told him to "Get the F out of my way!"
Table of Contents: | Bikers' Gripes
July 16th, 2008
Cover Story • Lean, Mean Meat-Free Machine | Portlander Robert Cheeke is the face of vegan bodybuilding.66 comments
July 16th, 2008
A Delay In Wheel Time | The city kills a long-planned bike-sharing project with no timeline for its return.1 comment
July 16th, 2008
Eat, Drink And Be Wary | WWire’s courthouse column makes a rare print appearance1 comment
July 16th, 2008
Murmurs • News as hot as a driver-cyclist fight.0 comments
July 16th, 2008
Rogue of the Week • John McCain | Give the money back, senator.3 comments
July 16th, 2008
Accounting 101 | University advocates to state: hands off our millions.1 comment
July 16th, 2008
Second Life | A teenager’s real 7,500-mile journey from a Southeast Asian refugee camp to Southeast Portland.5 comments
July 16th, 2008
Pour-tland | The city spends another $119,000 to train baristas even though the program isn’t meeting its goals. 5 comments
July 16th, 2008
Food Fight | Multnomah County wants chain eateries to provide calorie counts. Restaurateurs say hold the meddling.14 comments
July 16th, 2008
The Score • Signs of the Apocalypse8 comments
 Jake Gill |
[September 20th, 2006] Jake Gill is a 28-year-old shoeshine man at Nordstrom and the single father of a 7-year-old boy. He has more than a dozen tattoos, including black-and-white representations of locomotives on each of his shins. He gets around town on a Specialized road bike.
Asked whether he wears a helmet, Gill says, "What helmet? I'm a professional bike rider." Professional, he means, as in riding to work every day from his home on Southeast Belmont Street.
Of course, professional bike riders can't control the actions of people driving cars and buses. Last year, joyriding teens sideswiped a pedaling Gill, knocking him into a parked car. He sprained both of his wrists and got a gash in his head that required 12 staples.
But Gill might reconsider his helmetless ways after a recent encounter with a TriMet bus driver, which resulted in one of the 93 bus complaints filed by local cyclists so far this year with the transit agency. While that works out to about one complaint every three days, the total number to date is actually down from the most recent two years (see chart).
Gill's problems began in downtown Portland a little before 8:45 am on Wednesday, Sept. 6. Riding west on Southwest Main Street, he became alarmed when he noticed a bus approaching quickly from behind. He says he made a push-back motion with his left hand, signaling the driver to get off his tail. Gill swears he didn't make any other gestures.
The bus, he says, did not slow down. It sped up, and the driver motioned for him to get out of the way. So Gill pulled slightly to the side of Southwest Main Street near 4th Avenue, hopped off his bike and dialed 911. While on hold, he says, he realized the driver had also stopped and was coming down the bus steps to confront him.
Gill says the driver yelled, "Motherfucker, you better get the fuck out of my way." Gill, standing in front of the bus, didn't move.
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He says the driver, whom he identified as a heavyset African-American man, climbed back into his seat and drove forward, straight into him. The bike rack pushed into Gill's torso, he stepped back and the bus surged into him again, he says. He says he then hurried to get out of the way, hanging up on the 911 operator.
A nearby police officer called TriMet for Gill, who was uninjured. The officer had to leave for another court appointment, and Gill ended up waiting on the sidewalk for 45 minutes until a TriMet representative showed up and gave him the number for the complaint line.
Gill called from the sidewalk. And when he got home later that day, he also rang up lawyer Mark Ginsberg, who often works with aggrieved cyclists.
Now Gill wonders why no passenger intervened on his side.
"I was just shocked," he says. "I just felt like everyone was looking the other direction. To have a city bus do that, it's pretty extreme."
TriMet officials say the incident is under investigation but won't release the name of the driver or the number of his bus. Spokeswoman Mary Fetsch says it's a definite violation of agency rules for a driver to get out of the bus. She says most of the cyclist complaints tend to be things like the "bus tried to intimidate me."
Bicycle Transportation Alliance director Evan Manvel says his organization gets roughly a dozen calls about hell-bent bus drivers each year. Manvel says that's probably only a fraction of the actual number of bike-bus confrontations, which he attributes to "a few bad apples"—some of whom, he guesses, get frustrated and takes their stress out on cyclists.
^Bikers' Gripes
Cyclist complaints received by TriMet about buses so far this year, compared with the same point in 2005 and 2004.
2006:93
2005:99
2004:102
Source: Trimet
Jake Gill is what I call a bike punk. He is willing to break the law and attempt to make himself look like an innocent bike rider. He has no right to stand in fron of a bus and call 911. He should be cited for improper use of 911 and impeding traffic. What this came down to was his little ego and deciding to prove a point to this particular bus driver. Think of all the people in the bus he endangered by his little stunt. I bike all over Portland but I am in no way in support of your behavior. You give all of us on a bike a bad name. Disgusting.
Spot on Aaron S.
Your articulate and well thought-out message is greatly appreciated. I pity the poor bus drivers having to negotiate the crowded streets while cyclists move in and out of traffic and in front of the buses like porpoises in front of a ship. This situation reminds me of something that needs to be addressed in the upcoming election season. Licensing bicycles and cyclists. Not only would it create needed revenue for the city's transportation department, but, it would help to create more responsible cycling. We need to attach some sort of I.D. to this mode of transportation. And, while were at it, why not require cycling insurance? If a bicyclist causes damage to person or property, how does one obtain restitution? We no longer live in a society where the majority of bicyclists are ten-year-olds in their neighborhoods. Cycling is now a viable means of transportation and it is time that they bore some of the same responsibilities that motorists do.
"Asked whether he wears a helmet, Gill says, 'What helmet? I'm a professional bike rider.'"
All the professional bike riders that I know, as in those who are actually paid to ride their bikes, wear helmets. In fact, all the bike riders I know that have any grey matter, and want to keep their grey matter, wear helmets.
I hope Mr. Gill's profession provides him with enough health insurance to cover the enormous cost of hospitalization and rehabilitation if and when he suffers a head injury that could have been prevented or diminished simply by wearing a helmet.
When did Willamette Week assign Angela Valdez to the bicycle beat? For christ's sake, there are other, more deserving, stories developing in Portland that don't involve bikes. We're all sorry you got hit but its time to move on.
A single father of a 7 year old riding without a helmet on the mean streets of Portland?. Perhaps he should rethink that. What's to become of the poor 7 yo when Mr. Gill is in a vegetative state (if not already?). It sounds to me like Mr. Gill is hoping for a cash settlement from the already beleaguered Trimet. Has there been a sudden downturn in shoes that need shining?
I feel sorry for the gentleman who was spoken to harshly by a public employee, i hope this doesn't ruin his life or cause him any undue pain and suffering. If there is a lesson to this great tragedy, i guess its that if a 10 ton motor vehicle is coming at you, it might be wise to get the fuck out of the way.
Although the complaints are mostly valid, they ignore the point of the article. A driver allegedly used a several ton bus to assualt a less than 250 pound bike. The cyclist did nothing to cause worry for the driver by STANDING in the bus's path. The driver assualted the person by moving toward him. No court of law would accept vigilanteinsm. Had an officer arrived at that time and doled out the appropriate actions towards either party, the rest could play out in a civilized fashion in a court of law. The loser will be the bike, always. It is ridiculous to give road rage the OK. I think cyclist get sick of drivers just as drivers are sick of irresponsible cyclists. Imagining a cyclist try to use the same intimidation tactics which would not worry a driver, or more importantly cause fear of some fatal actions, is laughable.
I'll agree, a helmet sounds like a good idea considering what's at stake, but it's ulitimately his decision to do so and it affects him the most.
To the posters with the one liners...put some thought into it. Quality discourse doesn't fare well with simple, shallow, knee jerk reaction comments.
Interesting link on research of helmet safety and driver behavior towards cyclists.
What part of Get The Fuck Out Of The Way did he not understand? Get? Fuck? Way? Out? This is what happens when people read too much WW.
My mate walks and/or takes public transportation everywhere she goes and Aaron's comments sound as if she wrote them. I know as a driver she has "straightened" me out on more than one occasion on my driving habits. As a result, I think I am a better driver and more in tune with both bikers and pedestrians.
I am not offended by removing traffic lanes and making bikes lanes, but I a extremely offended by bikers that do not stay in the bike lanes, ride down the middle of a lane when there is plenty of room to move over, and most definitely when they are on sidewalks or crosswalks (unless walking their bikes).
Other than my slight rant, I do not really have much of a point to make here other than to compliment Aaron on his well written email.
D, that's an interesting UK study, but I wonder how US drivers compare. Regional driving behaviors should also be taken into consideration.
Big deal! I had a tri-met driver RUN INTO me on foot pretty hard and then swung his door open. I said "hey you ran into me!" He said well get the fuck out of my way!" same story. How long until they actuially KILL someone or has that already happened??
Gotta agree with Kyle on this one...maybe if the dumbfuck wasn't riding in the middle of the fucking road there wouldn't have been an issue.
Like any rational human being I don't encourage actually striking bicyclists with motor vehicles, and have even been on the receiving end of a few taps of a MTA bus bumper here in NYC, but you gotta think the bigger vehicle rules applied in this situation. So next time you are confronted by an angry black man with tons of steel, maybe listen up and get the fuck out the way.
A Trimet bus driver nearly KILLED me as she sped past me and forced me into the curb while going around the fountain downtown. She knew I was there and came inches from me. Not all bus drivers are bad, nor are all bikers. As someone else stated, it's an automobile vs. a cyclist/pedestrian.
PS - All bikers are not tattoo-laden hipsters who ban together to suppress the man.
Aaron S., as a multi-modal transportation user myself, I sympathize with your frustration, but you need to do a realistic risk assessment and temper your anxiety appropriately. The risks posed to anyone (pedestrian, biker, passenger, driver) by automobiles are greater than any other accidental or criminal danger in our lives by an unbelievable margin. Cars kill 40,000-50,000 people a year. The next leading cause of accidental death are accidental falls (about 15,000). Cars account for just about half of all accidental deaths total. 5991 pedestrians were killed in 2003. Bike-pedestrian deaths are incredibly rare, pessimistically maybe one a year? I can't find any statistics on it. You'd sooner get struck by lightning than killed by a cyclist.
I don't really have many words for everyone in this discussion who wishes harm to another transportation system user. It's easy to sling words on a web page, but hopefully you're not as angry and inhuman as you pretend to be on the internet. What makes you better than any other wishful murderer?
Jake is a friend of mine, and I'd like everyone here who feels the need to comment "Cry me a fucking river," or "get the fuck out of the way," to please say that to his face. His picture is in the article, and if you're downtown he's a pretty easy guy to spot.
Just walk up and say what you have to. If you really and truly believe it, then say it.
But you won't. Because you're all just a bunch of whiny internet chickenshits. Go get hit by a bus or something.
This story is obviously a waste of kilobites because it was my birthday yesterday and nobody wrote a damn story on me! Other than that I can see how anyone could get ticked with a city bus on your ass. Those dudes are already pissed. If I had a bus on my ass I'd probably get out of the way but i'm glad somebody made the driver pay for it. The rules apply: Pedestrians and cyclists have the right of way. Always have. You don't like it move to Nascar County in the state of Bumhole where you're aloud to run over kids and legally drink Castrol. But you can't...
Bus drivers shouldn't be bus drivers if they get all pissy and can't take a agro cyclist. I think that the damage had been done as soon as the driver purposely tapped Jakes body.Legally that's F'd. Can't do it.
And by the way, if you want Jake to wear a helmet so bad and you care so much for his kid go ahead and contact your local city deusche bag and have them lay down a helmet law. But there is none. Another win for Jake in court. This Jake guy is a good story. Just glad I got to read most of everyone's tough guy attitude. Impressive for tree hugging territory.
Hello,
I am a wife of a Trimet Driver. Mind you, I see 2 persectives here. (Thank god I'm not the wife of that driver). First off, the bike person should of hell worn a helmet. Second off, it is a violation to get out of a driver's seat while on duty unless on a break. Third off, if this really happened how it is claimed, where is that 911 dispatcher's recording? According to the bike man...he dialed 911 before the driver got off the bus and yelled at him..hung up afterwards to get out of the way. Hmmm, I ought to really check into this one at the bullpen with the station agent. A lesson for BOTH parties, WEAR HELMETS and SHOW SOME DAMN RESPECT TO EACH OTHER. Aint taking sides for something I didn't witness..let alone see an official report. Believe me, Trimet would of suspended the driver without pay while an investagation took place until the decision has been made. By the biker, 90% of Trimet bus' have video cameras IN and OUT side of them. Let's see where the truth falls...god I love cameras sometimes. You get to see who is more of an idiot! Oh Biker, wear your friggen helmet...you got a kid. What if you got hit by a drunk driver? Who then would care for that kid of yours as you are a single parent? Protect your children. Set an example to them. You want them to wear a helmet, you do it too. Or you will learn when the rebuttle comes of "I dont have to, you don't." And the ticket of not wearing a helmet too by the police.
Cry me a fucking river.
I don't own a vehicle or a bicycle, so the majority of my commuting from place to place is by walking (with public transportation ranking second). In the 15-odd years that I've been walking everywhere to get anywhere, one thing has remained the same: people on ANY wheeled vehicle have no fucking clue as to the impact they have on their surroundings. It doesn't matter whether it's the Mr. Magoo-like drivers talking on their cellphones while ignoring the traffic light, skateboarding wannabes throwing people off of walkways in the name of childish rebellion, or bike messengers in emo glasses who just had to cut across the sidewalk because it's quicker than obeying traffic laws. It's like Goofy's Mr. Walker/Mr. Wheeler transformation in the Disney cartoons: as soon as mild-mannered pedestrian Mr. Walker enters a vehicle he transforms into Mr. Wheeler: an adrenaline-pumping, gear-minded vicar of rubber-lined RAGE.
Just in the last week I've nearly been assaulted by someone in a vehicle, and the majority of those close shaves come from bicyclists who can't bother to use the clearly marked bike lane and instead choose to cruise down the sidewalk because using their designated traffic lane is "too dangerous." Downtown it's even worse because apparently traffic signals are completely OPTIONAL if you have a Schwinn between your legs. The only times I feel truly safe walking anywhere in the Portland Metro Area is around 3 IN THE GODDAMNED MORNING. Why? Because the only thing likely to kill me at that time of night while I'm on foot is someone trying to steal my wallet instead of an idiot on wheels.
Whenever I read some tear-laden article about an "innocent cyclist" who got gored by a CARELESS YUPPIE in his HUGE, FUEL WASTING S.U.V. I keep thinking "This never would've made Willy-Week if the victim had been a pedestrian." My brother got t-boned by a jackass in a Cadillac while pushing a stroller that had my daughter in it. They had to be rushed to the hospital and the aforementioned jackass STILL hasn't been found. Where's my brother's forum to complain about it? Where's his supportive community of multi-pierced/tattooed Zoobomber poseurs in their checkered Vans and Legendary Pink Dots concert shirts to stand beside him? Or is it just another form of social Republicanism? "It's not our problem if they can't afford a second-hand Mongoose."
So until the vocal minority of responsible bicyclists help police the visible MAJORITY of uncaring ones, I'll keep regarding them with an air of contempt.
(BTW: To any of you in the geared community who decide to repost this on some freepress.org forum where it'll be replied with scores of "That asshole better watch out because we're gonna SO PWNZOR HIM": Thank you for proving my point.)