Brian Mack
This is not an offense that cyclists should take lightly, especially considering that more races will be held in Estacada and the attitudes that other motorists have revealed towards the situation. That driver that ran the cyclist into the guard rail is guilty of vehicular assault, reckless driving, and failure to perform duties of driver to injured person. In Oregon, as opposed to other states, a bicycle is considered a vehicle (under 814.400) and has equal rights and responsibilities compared to motorized vehicles. In this incident it does not matter if the rider was misinterpreting 814.420, the driver was still in the wrong. (You wouldn't run another car off the road just because you saw the driver run a stop sign, say.)
I have posted some of the relevant statutes from Title 59 the Oregon vehicle code below, for reference:
811.060 Vehicular assault of bicyclist or pedestrian; penalty. (1) For the purposes of this section, ?recklessly? has the meaning given that term in ORS 161.085. [posted below for convenience]
(2) A person commits the offense of vehicular assault of a bicyclist or pedestrian if:
(a) The person recklessly operates a vehicle upon a highway in a manner that results in contact between the person?s vehicle and a bicycle operated by a person, a person operating a bicycle or a pedestrian; and
(b) The contact causes physical injury to the person operating a bicycle or the pedestrian.
(3) The offense described in this section, vehicular assault of a bicyclist or pedestrian, is a Class A misdemeanor. [2001 c.635 ?5]
161.085 Definitions with respect to culpability. As used in chapter 743, Oregon Laws 1971, and ORS 166.635, unless the context requires otherwise:
(9) ?Recklessly,? when used with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, means that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.
811.705 Failure to perform duties of driver to injured persons; penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons if the person is the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident that results in injury or death to any person and does not do all of the following:
(a) Immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close thereto as possible. Every stop required under this paragraph shall be made without obstructing traffic more than is necessary.
(b) Remain at the scene of the accident until the driver has fulfilled all of the requirements under this subsection.
(c) Give to the other driver or surviving passenger or any person not a passenger who is injured as a result of the accident the name and address of the driver and the registration number of the vehicle that the driver is driving and the name and address of any other occupants of the vehicle.
(d) Upon request and if available, exhibit and give to the persons injured or to the occupant of or person attending any vehicle damaged the number of any document issued as official evidence of a grant of driving privileges.
(e) Render to any person injured in the accident reasonable assistance, including the conveying or the making of arrangements for the conveying of such person to a physician, surgeon or hospital for medical or surgical treatment, if it is apparent that such treatment is necessary or if such conveying is requested by any injured person.
(f) Remain at the scene of an accident until a police officer has arrived and has received the required information, if all persons required to be given information under paragraph (c) of this subsection are killed in the accident or are unconscious or otherwise incapable of receiving the information. The requirement of this paragraph to remain at the scene of an accident until a police officer arrives does not apply to a driver who needs immediate medical care, who needs to leave the scene in order to secure medical care for another person injured in the accident or who needs to leave the scene in order to report the accident to the authorities, so long as the driver who leaves takes reasonable steps to return to the scene or to contact the nearest police agency.
(2)(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, the offense described in this section, failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons, is a Class C felony and is applicable on any premises open to the public.
(b) Failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons is a Class B felony if a person suffers serious physical injury as defined in ORS 161.015 or dies as a result of the accident. [1983 c.338 ?573; 1993 c.621 ?1; 2001 c.919 ?1]
For the sake of other cyclists as well as the victim of this incident, I hope that some form of justice will be brought to the situation.
Brian Mack