Yesterday, a girl on her bike got run over by a cement truck down at NW 14th and Burnside. The truck was turning right across the bike lane and couldn’t see the girl there, and she was crushed under both wheels. Reports say the girl was very young, and was carrying a bag full of books.

This is the sort of things that happens a lot in a town like Portland, where biking is an accepted and popular way to get around. There’s been a ghost bike erected at the scene, right outside Ringler’s and the Crystal Ballroom. There were people sitting outside who saw the whole thing happen. One pedestrian shouted “Stop”, but not in time.

I read some blog post that reported the accident, and in the comments found a reader demanding the driver “feel the full force of the law”. There were more comments that echoed this sort of vengeful justice.

I’m trying to imagine the mind-state of the driver, the one who just ran over a young girl on her green bike.

Tempest had a good insight this morning. She asked whether prosecuting this driver with the full force of the law could possibly bring a punishment more severe than the driver’s own conscience. Or, would he or she be forced into a defensive, embattled kind of viewpoint? Isn’t this the kind of circumstance that should elevate our awareness above the daily us-vs-them politics of city living?