Rear-end smash totals cars on steep East Portland street

See why a steep slope, a wet street, and a dark night, led to a bad Pleasant Valley neighborhood crash …

Portland Police Bureau East Precinct officers block off SE 112^th Avenue, as they work to clear a two-car smashup.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Despite being a heavily traveled two-lane road, SE 112^th Avenue between Mt. Scott Boulevard and Foster Road doesn’t see many vehicle accidents. But when they occur, they’re often serious.

On November 18, at 6:04 p.m., emergency first-responders were called to the intersection of SE 112^th Avenue and Ogden Street on the report of a two-car rear-end accident.

When the driver of this car stopped for a pedestrian, her car was smashed into from behind.

A man at the scene said his girlfriend was traveling northbound – going steeply downhill off Mt. Scott on SE 112^th Avenue – when she saw a man pushing a motorcycle across the street near SE Ogden Street.

Even on wet, rain-slick pavement, she skidded to a safe stop, missing the pedestrian. The car behind was not able to stop. It slammed into the back of her car. The force of the collision was so great, it deployed the front and side-curtain airbags in the vehicle.

This car looks totaled. But, it’s not a crime, it’s just an accident, police officers at the scene say – to it’s now up to the insurance companies to work out the details of this wreck.

At first, responders believed the occupant of the second vehicle was pinned inside the wrecked car. However all occupants had exited their smashed cars on their own.

“When we have wrecks here, they are often terribly bad,” said neighbor Brian Colburn who walked over to look at the wreckage.

“I know I’ll sound like an ‘old cranky guy’,” Colburn told East Portland News, “but people drive this road way too fast, especially downhill. It’s a very steep grade.”

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