Manual Focus

my parents' house

this is where i grew up. my parents still live here; that’s my mom’s car. i feel like i’m home (without having to be in texas!) thank you, google street view.
View Larger Map 3 months ago

Blind Spot of Justice?

RE: Amy J. Ruiz’s article in last week’s MERCURY

To the Editor:
As an active member of Portland’s bicycling community and a fellow student of the late Tracey Sparling at PNCA, I appreciate Amy J. Ruiz’s passion for the issue of bicycle safety. However, as a fan of pragmatism I must say that a call for the tar-and-feather of this driver is clearly not the way to make our point. Has our society become so concerned with the symbolism of accountability that we will sacrifice reason for a false sense of resolution? I understand that it is against the laws of propriety to insinuate wrong-doing on the part of the deceased, and may her family forgive me for saying so, but the awful fact of this matter is that if Tracey is not accountable for stopping literally next to the wheels of an oversized commercial vehicle, then it is absurd to suggest that the driver should be held accountable for taking a right turn across a bicycle lane he perceived to be empty. Ms. Ruiz asks, “Shouldn’t the driver have assumed someone could be there, and waited for bike traffic—visible or not—to clear?” How long exactly should someone wait until they see something they don’t know exists? How many bicycles could approach during this untold waiting time? This suggestion borders on the ridiculous. We cannot use this man as a scapegoat for a troubled system; and as vulnerable riders it is a (potentially fatal) mistake to rely on a network of painted lines to keep us safe. Until we have the perfect system, and until we’ve eradicated real negligence, we must take as much responsibility for our own safety as possible. No one else will do it for us.

Jaclyn Campanaro
Southeast Portland 3 months ago