Portland traffic death toll hit record high in 2023 despite Vision Zero effort, report finds
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After a record-breaking year of deadly crashes on Portland’s streets, city leaders on Wednesday heard a new crash report with an updated action plan that aims to curb the violent trend.
Despite increased efforts to reduce speed and increase safety on our streets, the report clearly shows the city is even further from its goal of eliminating traffic deaths and injuries.
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In fact, the report shows Portland has continued to see an increase in traffic violence since launching its Vision Zero initiative in 2016 with more than 300 people killed since 2017.
Sarah Iannarone, the executive director of The Street Trust, said the city needs to have aspirations of eliminating traffic violence, but those policies require funding – adding that “’vision’ is important but it’s wholly insufficient to address the problem” without change.
“We’re not asking for fancy infrastructure, [but] sidewalks, lighting, safe crossings, making sure that drivers stop at stop signs and aren’t speeding 50-60 miles per hour down a city street,” Sarah Iannarone, the executive director of The Street Trust, said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
The death toll in Portland reached a more than three-decade high last year. A new report found 69 people were killed in crashes in 2023, which surpassed the previous record of 63 deaths in 2021.
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But the rise in traffic violence is not unique to Portland. The report also highlights a nation-wide 17% spike in traffic-related deaths in the past five years.
Portland tied with Colorado at eight deaths per capita, totalling more than similar Vision Zero cities like Seattle (4) and Boston (3) but less than others like Nashville (15) and Atlanta (13).
“It comes as no surprise to us that the numbers continue to climb, what we’ve seen is modest investments for which we’re very grateful, but not enough and not fast enough, alongside some really significant behavioral shifts among the public since the pandemic,” Iannarone said.
Since 2017, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has invested $193 million in safety improvements along the high-crash network. According to the report, the 30 corridors make up 8% of Portland streets and account for 62% of traffic deaths over the past five years. Other factors like speed contributed to 42% of deaths and impairment 69%.
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City Commissioner Mingus Mapps said, “There are some behavior changes that need to happen here.”
In addition to the PBOT’s efforts to invest in speed limits and infrastructure, Commissioner Mapps said having police, fire and other safety partners at the meeting is crucial to curb the loss of life.
“Visions really works when we implement it. I’ll tell you, when I implement, install a traffic camera, we see something like a 90% reduction in speeding over 10 miles of the speed limit,” he said. “Where we go and make an intervention, it makes a difference.”
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