After reportedly running a red light, the gold Outback was hit by the Chevy Tahoe, jumped the curb, and took out a crosswalk sign at Flavel and S.E. 72nd.

For the second month in a row, THE BEE is reporting a local collision caused by an inattentive driver never noticing — apparently — that the traffic light at the upcoming intersection was already red. The result of that mistake is all too predictable.

So it was, that the peace of a quiet summer afternoon in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood was shattered by a grinding side-impact vehicle smashup just after 2 pm on Thursday, August 7.

Portland Fire & Rescue paramedics from Lents Station 11 rolled to the intersection of S.E. Flavel Street and 72nd Avenue, as did East Precinct police officers.

The driver of the Chevy Tahoe involved told THE BEE that he he’d been westbound on Flavel from 82nd Avenue. As he approached the traffic light, “I took my foot off the gas to slow down as I came near the intersection.”

He said he spotted a southbound car that had stopped for the red light at S.E. 72nd Avenue. But, he noticed a dark bronze car was driving northbound toward the intersection. “By the time it was clear to me that she wasn’t stopping [for the red light], I hit the brakes, but couldn’t avoid the collision,” the driver/witness said.

It appeared as if the primary impact of the Chevy’s front bumper was to the passenger’s front wheel well of the red-light-running Subaru Outback, breaking off the wheel. The Outback then slammed into the side of the Chevy — before climbing the northwest curb of the intersection.

The Outback’s front end next snapped off a crosswalk sign, and sent it flying about eight feet, into bushes.

Other witnesses at the scene corroborated the Chevy driver’s description of the situation.

The two occupants of the Outback were transported by ambulance to local hospitals — first the passenger, and then the driver. Neither patient was considered to be a “trauma entry” into the medical care system at the time, and their current conditions are unknown.

The accident is under investigation. But the important lesson is clear: When the light is red, for heaven’s sake, stop.