As I mentioned earlier (here and here), I’m not sure that Lt. Mark Kruger is the right person to be in charge of the Portland Police Departments Traffic Division. After reading this article from BikePortland.org, I’m further convinced that the Mayor should get someone else for the job.
After BikePortland initially reported on Bob Verrinder’s collision with a car on Marine Drive a few weeks ago, I thought Verrinder had probably made an error in judgement. Now we find out that Verrinder was crossing Marine Drive when a pedestrian was in the crosswalk and the yellow crossing light was blinking. Prior to this report, the media reported only that Verrinder had crossed Marine Drive without stopping. The Portland Police Department withheld these recently uncovered facts from earlier reports to the media. Why? It is increasingly obvious to me that Lt. Mark Kruger, who heads the Traffic Division, has a serious anti-cycling bias and seeks to exonerate any drivers who collide with bicyclists. It’s no wonder that motorists believe that cyclists are at fault when, in fact, cyclists have the right of way – Kruger’s statements and manipulation of the media reinforce all of their misconceptions.