Two Teens Hurt in Bethel Dirt Bike Crash, Unlicensed Driver Cited

A dirt bike carrying two 13-year-old boys slammed into a Subaru WRX near Barger Drive and East Irwin Way in Eugene's Bethel neighborhood on March 8, sending both teenagers to the hospital and landing the car's driver a citation for operating a vehicle without a valid license.

Eugene Police Department officers responded at about 11:10 a.m. to what EPD classified as a vehicle versus motorcyclist crash. According to the Eugene Police Department, the investigation revealed the dirt bike was traveling eastbound in the westbound bike lane at speed when it struck the Subaru, whose 29-year-old driver was in the process of turning into a parking lot.

Eugene-Springfield Fire treated both boys at the scene. The teenagers were wearing helmets at the time of the collision, and both were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The Subaru sustained significant damage.

The crash produced a citation for the driver that had nothing to do with the collision itself: the 29-year-old did not hold a valid driver's license and was cited for driving without privileges, police said. It remains unclear whether law enforcement issued any citation to the juvenile riders in connection with operating the dirt bike in the wrong-direction bike lane.

The intersection of Barger Drive and East Irwin Way sits in the Bethel area on Eugene's west side, a neighborhood where residential streets feed into commercial corridors. The circumstances of the crash, a dirt bike running against traffic in a bike lane while two middle-school-aged boys shared the seat, raise questions about off-road vehicle use on Eugene streets that EPD has not yet addressed publicly.