Portland City Councilor Jamie Dunphy is “furious.” In a video just uploaded to his official city council social media accounts, Dunphy addresses the tragic and senseless traffic violence that killed three people in the Hazelwood Neighborhood last night.
Dunphy is calling on the mayor, city administrator, the Portland Police Bureau, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation to “put together an immediate response for this stretch of East Portland.” “We need to protect pedestrians and bicyclists,” Dunphy says in the video.
Dunphy’s statement is also notable for how he directly calls out drivers for the, “dangerous and negligent behavior,” he sees every day. It’s a rare and powerful bit of blaming-and-shaming directed squarely at car users. At one point he addresses drivers directly and implores them to “do better.”
Here’s more from Dunphy’s video:
“Three families are grieving today because their family members were stolen from them by drivers of vehicles. This didn’t have to happen. Every day I see dangerous and negligent behavior by drivers who are texting while driving, speeding, running red lights, ignoring crosswalks and bike lanes, clipping corners and failing to signal. I hope that wasn’t the case in these three deaths, but I’m furious about this.
To the families whose family members were stolen from them last night: I am so sorry. I pledged my support to Vision Zero, recognizing that one pedestrian death is too many. Three in one night is too much to bear. It is unacceptable, and it cannot happen again.
I’m calling on the mayor, the city administrator, the Portland Police Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation put together an immediate response for this stretch of East Portland. We need to protect pedestrians and bicyclists, and we need to hold drivers accountable for their criminal behavior.
And you, if you’re watching this, fix your driving, slow down, you’re not special. You’re not so talented of a driver that you can text while driving and ignore these rules, and you’re not doing enough. Do better keep your neighbors alive.”
That’s one of the most direct and heartfelt responses to a fatal traffic crash I can recall ever seeing from City Hall. Then again, I also can’t remember ever having three deaths in separate collisions like this in such a small geographic area (they all occurred less than one mile from each other).
As for what PBOT is likely to do; the good news is they’ve already studied and analyzed NE Glisan and 122nd. And their data is relevant, given that they’ve either recently completed safety projects or are still in the process of doing so. The bad news is that the type of changes they’re making in East Portland aren’t nearly robust enough to protect bicycle riders, walkers, and wheelchair users.
PBOT is no longer guilty of ignoring East Portland, but they haven’t had the courage and/or political support (those two things are directly related) to build the type of projects that would actually live up to their “Safe Systems” ideals. Even after millions are spent on these corridors, it remains far too easy to drive fast and kill.
