Safety of Portsmouth bike lanes debated after veteran cyclist Dan O'Neill, who routinely bikes 150 miles in a day is doored suffering facial injuries
PORTSMOUTH — After an hour of comments from the public, and the fire and police chiefs, the Parking and Traffic Safety Committee on Thursday voted to defer further debate about the safety of the Middle Street bike lanes until its September meeting.
The topic was on the agenda for the PTSC to discuss Thursday morning but the committee agreed with resident Charles Griffin that reports from city staff should be published before there’s debate and/or decisions made. No information was included with a “packet” for Thursday’s meeting.
The safety discussion follows a July 26 accident when a cyclist was “doored” by an opening car door and suffered what Fire Chief Todd Germain described as facial injures.
Germain on Thursday read a report from a fire captain who responded to the July 26 accident and wrote the cyclist was “entering the protected bike lane on Middle Street when someone in a vehicle that was parked opened the passenger side door, resulting in the cyclist striking the door and falling to the ground.”
The cyclist refused an ambulance ride and police were called to the scene, as is Fire Department protocol in cases involving injuries, Germain said. Police Capt. Mark Newport said the accident is considered non-reportable from a police standpoint because the vehicle was not moving.
“It just happened that at the same time the bicyclist came through the lane, the person on the passenger side opened the door simultaneously and they hit it,”
“From our standpoint, we wouldn’t have an official accident report.” Newport said.
The configuration of the bike lanes have vehicles parked off the curb with the bike lane between the vehicles and curb. Resident Gerald Duffy attended the virtual meeting and said he’s noticed the road striping has faded, adding it’s important to the safety of the bike lanes’ design and calling on the city to find funds to re-stripe the area.
Resident and former city councilor Ned Reynolds attended the Zoom-platform meeting from the area of Middle Street where the accident occurred. He reported there were three recycling bins and five bags of trash in the bike lane, as well as two cars parked in the buffer area. Reynolds said he thinks education about the proper way to park, combined with enforcement will improve safety.
Resident Marie Nelson said children are riding cycles on Lincoln Avenue, instead of using the bike lane, to get to school. “It’s just not being used,” she said. Resident “CJ” Fleck said he’s in favor of the bike lanes but there’s room for improvement. He said the road’s condition “is kind of junky” and the entry into the bike lane, where the accident happened is “tricky.” Committee member Mary Lou McElwain said she’s witnessed “close calls” with doors opening on the drivers’ sides of vehicles and said there’s a need to look at the big picture.
She made a motion to revisit the topic during the September meeting with a report from city staff. Planning Director Juliet Walker said she will provide a thorough report “for a more robust discussion.”
“Cyclists being doored is one of the most common bicycling accidents, in other countries people are taught to open doors with the “Dutch reach,” where they open a door with the opposite hand, so their bodies are turned to get a better look at surroundings. We might want to be encouraging that as well,”
City Councilor Peter Whelan, chair of the PTSC, said the committee needs to be transparent, have all the facts and “let the people weigh in” when it next meets. McElwain’s motion to revisit the topic next month was passed by a unanimous vote.
By Elizabeth Dinan, Seacoast Online