With gas prices going up, and up, and up … more of us than ever before will be on two feet or two wheels. … This sad motorcycle accident story from the April 7th, Oregonian, “Old enough to know he’s not invincible,” prompted us to track down some motorcycle law links for you:
I loved this expression, purposefully cowardly, as a description of the care pedestrians and bicyclists must take when traveling the highways and byways.
It was used by Neal Pierce in an interview he had with J. David Santen, Jr., in the March 13th, Oregonian, inPortland article, “Why parks? Neal Peirce has some answers.”
Excerpt: “[Santen] You wrote recently that 2008 might be the year of the bicycle, and point to Portland as a place that has worked to make biking safer. I recently bought a bike and a trailer for small children — it’s still kind of scary.
The law firm of Swanson, Thomas & Coon has developed a guide to Oregon Pedestrian Rights: A Legal Guide to Pedestrians on Foot
Recent statistics on pedestrian deaths and injury can be found in the Oregon Traffic Safety Performance Plan, Fiscal Year 2008, Public Version.
More on Oregon traffic, transportation, pedestrians, bicyclists and the law:
Article in the Oregonian, Busts Stick to Innocent Drivers, Feb 24th, by Susan Goldsmith:
“Lance Briggs was a month into his new job at the Oregon Lottery when a sheriff’s deputy stopped him for speeding, then arrested him for allegedly driving under the influence after a sobriety test raised suspicions.
Briggs wasn’t intoxicated, it turned out. He blew zero on a breath test at the Polk County jail, and a urine sample, sent out that night, came back negative for drugs. Officials never filed charges of any kind.
Towing is nothing if not exciting in Oregon (and probably elsewhere around the world). Local papers seem to run a “towing” story every week. The 1/8/08, Oregonian story, “Complaints push police to overhaul tow policy,” by Maxine Bernstein, is only the latest one.
Portland is particularly active in the Towing Law Making Arena and you can visit their home page, type the word towing into the search box, and keep yourself busy for a while – a long while. But public law librarians get towing questions from all over the state (and beyond, believe it or not) so, like condo law, I’ll blog about the subject fairly often.
Keep in mind that everyone from the neighborhood association to the Legislature gets involved with making towing law and policy, so you will need to look far and wide, near and far for towing laws. Statewide laws are updated not infrequently, the latest change occurred this past 2007 Legislative Session. See the following for information:
New traffic laws are highlighted at the Oregonian and at the DMV (see their other press releases here). Old and new traffic laws here and here and here.
And here’s a traffic rule NO ONE in Portland seems to know, except for those drivers from countries where one is expected to know the Roundabout Rules (and to learn how to drive, and park, before getting a license) (e.g. UK):
When exiting a roundabout (aka traffic circle), “ALWAYS INDICATE YOUR EXIT [from the circle] USING YOUR RIGHT TURN SIGNAL.” See pages 50-51 of the Oregon Driver Manual.
This OLR blog post has been updated: see Sept. 18th, 2008, post: Traffic Law: How to Beat (or Transcend) Your Ticket
“I got this here traffic ticket …” Law library staff hear this a lot and our patrons have some success with the following strategy, as apparently did this bicyclist who posts this message to Bike Portland dot org. (I saw the story first on Orblogs.)
1) Research the law (your ticket should tell you what the statute or ordinance you were charged under). Most of these laws are online, whether it is an Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) or a local ordinance.
2) Read Nolo Press’s “Beat Your Ticket” (smart, practical, humbling, honest). Your local law library may also have a couple other documents for you to read.
From the Oregon Court of Appeals, Oregon v. Greenlick A127374),
“This case presents the opportunity to decide whether the statutory speedy trial right, ORS 135.747, applies to traffic violations. Defendant moved to dismiss the charge, asserting that the state had violated ORS 135.747 by bringing him to trial some 15 months after the citation was issued. The trial court did not address the state’s contention that the statute was inapplicable, but ruled that the length of the delay was not unreasonable. For the reasons that follow, we reverse….
Thus, a straightforward application of ORS 135.747 in the context of a violation requires that a defendant be brought to trial within a reasonable period of time after the issuance of the citation. In this case, we have no difficulty concluding that a delay of 15 months between the issuance of the citation and trial was unreasonable in the absence of any other circumstances.”
Other Oregon Court of Appeals and Supreme Court cases can be found here. The Media Releases summarize the recent cases.
Oregon Legal Research Blog