A memorial on SE Foster near
site of fatal collision back in November 2009.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has been doing "crosswalk enforcement actions" for several years. The events, which place a human decoy in a crosswalk with a phalanx of cops waiting to pull people over nearby, have helped raise awareness for crosswalk laws and traffic safety in general. In the past six years, the actions have netted nearly 1,000 citations.

One of the most dangerous streets in the city is SE Foster Road. It's a high-speed arterial that has claimed many victims over the years, including a fatal hit-and-run just last week. Portland Mayor Sam Adams himself launched a safety campaign on SE Foster in 2010, calling it a de facto "freeway."

Today I noticed that PBOT had a crosswalk enforcement action scheduled for tonight on SE Powell at 54th — a location less than a mile from SE Foster. In an email from PBOT traffic safety staff about the actions, I read this:

"The crosswalk enforcement action scheduled for Thursday, February 2nd... has been postponed until a later date to be respectful to the residents of Foster Powell and Mt. Scott Arleta that will be having a candlelight vigil for Jason Lee Grant on Thursday at 5:30 PM on SE Foster near SE 71st Avenue. Mr. Grant was crossing SE Foster near SE 71st on Saturday evening when he was struck and killed by a hit and run driver."

These arterial streets are so frustrating and so sad. Despite efforts to hang banners over them, install blinking lights at crosswalks, do enforcements actions, and hold vigils to remember their victims — these streets continue to win in the end.

Surely there's got to be more we can do to tame these streets? What we're doing now is great; but sometimes it seems like it's just not enough.

For more information about tonight's candlelight vigil, contact Christian Smith via email at christianbsmith [at] me [dot] com.

Jim Parsons from Beaverton won the "Best Lit" winner at last year's "Be Safe Be Seen" event.
(Photos © J. Maus)

TriMet is all set for their second annual Be Seen, Be Safe event tonight at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The event will feature a mix of reflective and hi-vis fashion shows, a contest to see who has the most well-lit bike, and a guided ride through the city to show it all off.
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Cover of Oregon's Traffic Safety
Action Plan.

Did you know that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in Oregon for people under 35 years of age? Or that every year, traffic crashes in Oregon result in an estimated $2.58 billion in total economic loss — that's about $657 dollars per Oregon resident*.

The good news is that the number and rate of injuries and fatalities on Oregon roads have been on the downswing in recent years. However, as we've been reminded in the past week or so, there's a lot more work to do.

So far this year, 181 people have lost their lives while traveling on Oregon roads. (more...)

[Publisher's note: This article was written by transportation activist Alexis Grant and it was originally published on the Active Right of Way blog.]

(Photos © J. Maus)

At the annual Transportation Safety Summit on Tuesday, February 6, 2011, at Marshall High School, Mayor Adams started off the summit by asking "Why is safety our highest priority?" It may be a bit heretical of me, but the first question that came to my mind was "Is it? Really?"

What does it mean for safety to be our highest priority on the roads? Vision Zero argues that optimal safety means no loss of life:

No loss of life is acceptable. The Vision Zero approach has proven highly successful. It is based on the simple fact that we are human and make mistakes. The road system needs to keep us moving. But it must also be designed to protect us at every turn.

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Citizen activist Rebecca Hamilton pitches
Mayor Adams with her big ideas.
- Full Gallery -
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation and Mayor Sam Adams hosted the Transportation Safety Summit Tuesday night. The event brought together advocacy groups, city staffers, citizen activists, and leaders from PBOT, the Oregon Department of Transportation and other agencies. The goal was to share information, garner feedback, and get focused around our city's top safety priorities.
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PBOT chart shows traffic fatalities in Portland by mode between 1996 and 2010.
- Download larger image (with additional data) as a PDF -

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A family enjoys a sunny winter
ride on SE 52nd Ave.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Lost in the end-of-year festivities and perhaps overshadowed by a startling number of people killed while walking on Oregon roads in 2010 (60), lies a positive statistic that deserves our attention. In 2010, there were zero fatal bicycle crashes in Portland.

According to PBOT data, this is the sixth time since 1999 that no one has been killed while riding a bike in our city (others were 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2008). (more...)

Mayor Sam Adams has released details of the fifth annual Transportation Safety Summit which is scheduled for February 8th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Marshall High School (3905 SE 91st Ave).

Here is the updated list of keynote speakers:

• Mayor Sam Adams
• Susan Keil, Director, Portland Bureau of Transportation
• Tom Miller, Incoming Director, Portland Bureau of Transportation
• Todd Wyatt, Captain of Traffic Division, Portland Police
• Jason Tell, Region 1 Manager, Oregon Department of Transportation
• Neil McFarlane, TriMet General Manager

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This year, Washington State lawmakers will consider a new safe passing law. The bill, House Bill 1018 (PDF), is just one part of what's been dubbed as the "Mutual Responsibility Bill." It appears to have support from both sides of the aisle (in total, eight democrats and three republicans support it) and seems to stand a better chance of passage than a similar attempt in 2008.

What's in Washington's bill, and how does it compare with Oregon's existing safe passing law?
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Tell City leaders your top safety concerns
at upcoming summit.
(Photo © J. Maus)

2010 is shaping up to be the Year of Transportation in Portland (and beyond).

In December, we shared news that ODOT's top guy in our region, Jason Tell, was pushing to make safety a higher priority. ODOT is also on a statewide tour to garner input on their Transportation Safety Action Plan and the leader of that project, Walt McAllister, has been in touch with us about the possibility of new and exciting ways they can connect with you bike safety concerns (stay tuned on that one). (more...)

Mayor Sam Adams (then
Commissioner of Transportation)
addressing the crowd at the
2007 safety summit.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Portland Mayor Sam Adams -- who according to a high-level traffic safety program staffer at PBOT "has done more than any other elected official to bring the safety issue to the forefront" -- has chosen a date for the 2010 Transportation Safety Summit.

On the evening of Tuesday, February 16th, Adams will join with representatives from the Portland Police, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and state legislators to discuss safety issues with the community through short presentations and breakout sessions.
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ODOT Region 1 Director
Jason Tell.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland metro area's regional director of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is leading a charge to raise the profile of transportation safety for all modes.

ODOT Region 1 Director Jason Tell put forth a successful amendment yesterday (download PDF) at a meeting of Metro's Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation that will fundamentally change how the influential Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) looks at safety. The RTP, a $20 billion package of projects, was supported by JPACT yesterday and is expected to be officially adopted by Metro later this month.

Tell's amendment changes the safety performance measure in transportation project evaluation, adds biking and walking traffic into safety risk calculations (only motor vehicle traffic used to be considered), and directs ODOT, Metro, and other agencies to create a "Regional Safety Working Group." (more...)

Intersection 911 has released its third "Bikes Riding With Bikes" PSA video, this one instructing people to pass each other on the left, using the Steel Bridge and N Williams as examples.

The first video in this series focused on helping out other riders in distress, and the second also dealt with safe passing issues.

There's a constant chorus -- sometimes soft, sometimes overpoweringly loud -- in every conversation about bike infrastructure in America. Its refrain: You're safer without any bike lanes, separated lanes, cycle tracks, bike boulevards, off-road paths. Just take the lane, follow the rules, wear your helmet, and you'll be fine.

A group of scholars at the University of British Columbia have found otherwise. They conducted a literature review, looking at all available studies linking bicycle safety with infrastructure. Their conclusions will be counterintuitive for some. (more...)

A baby seat in a bakfiets is not
a rare sight in Portland.
(Photos © J. Maus)

A reader contacted us with a dilemma -- she is about to have her first child, she doesn't own a car, and she travels primarily by bike. In preparing for her new life as a parent, she had some questions.

Is it safe to ride with a newborn? Is it legal? Are there important age benchmarks she should know about? She was particularly concerned about the impact of vibration on a child's brain development. (more...)

Roger Geller
(Photo © J. Maus)

[Editor's note: This guest editorial was written by Roger Geller, Bicycle Coordinator for the City of Portland.]

In the past week I've been noticing harbingers of spring: flowering magnolia, daffodils in full bloom, tulips beginning to push their way up, birds early in the morning, sun later in the evenings, and, on especially nice days, a city beginning to pop with bicycling. We are approaching Portland's high bicycle season. (more...)