Portland’s oft-maligned Vision Zero program will make a trip to City Council next week. The Portland Bureau of Transportation plans to update council members and share their 2023 crash report and Vision Zero Action Plan update.
BikePortland previously reported on the plan update when it was released back in November. But I don’t think we’ve covered the 2023 Deadly Traffic Crash Report, which was finalized in February.
PBOT’s crash report is a summary of where and how people were killed on our streets in 2023. The city’s grim tally of fatalities last year was 69 — the highest death toll in at least three decades and a figure that surpasses 2021’s record high. In the opening of the report, PBOT refers to “those killed by traffic violence” as representing a broad cross-section of Portlanders.
Here are a few stats from the report that caught my eyes:
- East Portland communities face greater exposure to traffic violence. In 2023, East Portland’s traffic death rate per 100,000 was 15 compared to nine in the rest of the city.
- The average age was 40.
- 51 of these traffic victims (74%) as male and 18 (26%) as female.
- In 2023, 74% of traffic deaths occurred on Portland’s High Crash Network.
- Eighty-seven percent of traffic deaths occur on streets with posted speeds of 30 mph and higher. While only 8% of our streets have speed limits higher than 30 mph, 54% of traffic deaths in the last three years have occurred on them.
- Half of the pedestrians who died in 2023 were experiencing houselessness (12 of 24). These statistics speak to the extreme risks of persistent exposure to traffic, often on high-speed streets.
- An average of 16 pedestrians were killed annually between 2018 and 2020, compared to an average of 26 pedestrians in the past three years (2021–2023). But 2023 is the first year that pedestrian deaths are lower. In 2023, pedestrians made up 35% of traffic deaths with 24 pedestrians killed in crashes. In 2021 and 2022, more than 40% of traffic deaths were pedestrians. In 2021, 27 pedestrians died in crashes and 28 died in 2022.
- Black communities in Portland experienced traffic violence at a disproportionate rate when compared to other racial communities in the city. Eleven people killed in traffic crashes were identified as Black, making up 16% of the people killed this year, much higher than their share of Portland’s population (5.6%).
On Wednesday at 2:00 pm PBOT staff will present these findings to council. In the ordinance that will be discussed at the meeting, PBOT shared the ongoing work they’re doing and a few new approaches they’ll take in their fight to eliminate all road deaths by 2025.
One of the new measures was a traffic safety evaluation adjacent to all temporary housing shelters citywide. This analysis will include cost estimates for safety upgrades.
Another new initiative is an executive working group to be convened by the PBOT director. According to the ordinance it will consist of “relevant Bureau directors from across the City,” who will, “Collaborate on actions that support the City’s goal to eliminate traffic deaths.”
In related news, in a Vision Zero newsletter emailed yesterday, PBOT announce a change to their crash response protocol. Launched in 2019 under former PBOT Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, this protocol included the installation of an illuminated message board sign at the location of every fatal crash in the city. The sign would include a date of the crash and the admonition, “Travel With Care.”
Now it appears they will change that program to save money. Instead of putting the signs at all deadly crash locations, PBOT will set out just four signs — one in each of the four new city council districts. The locations will vary each quarter and will focus on intersections that are on the city’s High Crash Network.