Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

Get around, just not on the expected path

Wednesday night, two walkers in SE Portland were struck by cars. Both suffered serious injuries, though last I heard, none of their injuries were life-threatening.

One pedestrian was struck on SE 82nd between Holgate and Foster, sometime before I got back to SE on a bus from North Portland; I'd been hanging out at a signing at Bridge City Comics. That stretch of 82nd was closed. Our bus driver first pulled over at Holgate to get guidance from a dispatcher; best way around?

The route the driver was told to take, it turned out, wasn't the best way. It led to a turn that the driver wouldn't do, because the turn would've been illegal, then led to the bus riding, slowly, down what turned out to be an unimproved street. A bumpy street. Which led to a T-intersection that, from first glance, did not have enough room for the bus to turn — had it turned, it would've hit parked cars.

Here's where we wish a bus could launch vertically. Or that maybe King Kong — no, Mighty Joe Young, he's more helpful — lift up the bus to point it in the right direction.

In one away I was lucky: I didn't have to see the end of this bussing saga (by then, the driver was asking for a supervisor to come to the intersection and guide him when backing out the bus), because the bus had gotten stuck at SE 65th and Schiller, which is a manageable walk from where I live. So I walked. When I've needed to, in this town, I've walked miles at a time.

One of these days I'll manage to walk 10 or more miles in a day.

I hope the bus got out fine. And I hope the walkers who'd been hit will recover quickly.
Tags: peregrinations, portland
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