As traffic deaths rise, Portland officials crack down
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Given the rise in fatal car crashes and pedestrian deaths, Portland transportation officials and police are implementing new strategies to crack down on speeding and reckless driving.
Why it matters: Speeding is a major factor in Portland traffic deaths, despite the city's effort to reduce speed limits, and this may be the deadliest year on record for collisions.
- Portland is on track to surpass its previous record of 68 deaths in 2022 and 63 in 2021. So far, 45 people have died in crashes this year.
- Over a third of pedestrians killed by vehicles in Portland last year were experiencing homelessness.
What's happening: Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell reinstated the agency's traffic division, which had been on a two-year hiatus due to staffing challenges during the pandemic.
- In May, 14 officers, primarily on motorcycles, resumed nightly patrols from 5pm to 3am on corridors with histories of fatal crashes.
Meanwhile, Gov. Tina Kotek signed a widely supported bipartisan bill allowing the expanded use of red light cameras and speed cameras for all Oregon cities and gave the authority to jurisdictions to reduce the speed limit up to 10 miles below the statutory speed.
- Currently, there are 10 red light cameras and eight speed cameras operating in Portland.
- However, 12 more speed cameras are in production, as are seven additional red light cameras.
The intrigue: Just 8% of Portland streets and state highways have speed limits above 35 mph.
- "If we can make that relatively small number of streets safer, it can make an enormous difference in reducing traffic deaths and serious injuries in Portland," Dylan Rivera, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Transportation, tells Axios.
By the numbers: If you run a red light or blaze past a speed camera, chances are you'll be paying a pretty penny.
- The baseline citation amount for red light violations is $265, set by the state, while a speeding ticket could cost a minimum of $170 and may affect your insurance rates.
But the goal of adding more traffic cameras is not to make money — citations brought just over $3 million in the last two years — it's to change driver behavior, according to Rivera.
- The locations of all cameras can be found on the bureau's website.