Mort I appreciate you taking the time to research this and calling attention to the unnecessary traffic violence that occurs on Portlands streets. That said, you can put me in the disagree audience of this article.
The easiest solution to traffic violence as proven by Europe is a viable alternative to driving. Cars are dangerous at high speeds and when the infrastructure is designed for cars to move fast, bad things happen.
I'm a member of strong towns pdx, a local (very politically active) chapter of the national advocacy organization Strong Towns. In article linked below Chuck Mahron highlights something DOTs don't like to admit because it goes against the status quo: deaths during the pandemic went up because less people were driving, so there was less congestion and people could drive faster. As we have returned to "normal" congestion has returned and we have to drive slower.
As a bike commuter and transit advocate myself i will say the streets are not safe enough for biking for a majority of the population and transit is woefully insufficient and inconvenient (plus we're defunding it). We have no VIABLE alternative to driving in Portland, so people drive. And deaths occur.
But we don't need more cars, or sketchy corporations to mediate our transportation needs. We just need our streets to be designed for alternatives to cars. And not just some, and not just painted lanes. We need to take advice from European countries that have proven Vision Zero is possible, i'm looking at you Sweden:
So, I totally agree with you, to a point. I want more walkable communities where we don’t have to drive. I think it’s crazy that we can drive down NW 13th or Alberta at all, to be honest. I think Alberta should be a Europe-style “high” street that’s pedestrian only except in the early morning when deliveries come through.
And yet…
Portland has ~60 yearly deaths per million inhabitants. The EU average is 44 per million inhabitants. In Sweden, it’s 20 per million.
Don’t get me wrong. I would love to get to 20 deaths per million. But that's still not zero. Moreover, I don't see a real politically viable path to zero without autonomy.
To me it’s a question of both / and. We should operate our roads to be more like Europe!
My goal is for pedestrian deaths to be as shocking and as rare as lightning, shark attack, or cougar deaths. The sort of thing that that is so rare that it’s front page news. We still need to migrate to AVs if we — or the EU, frankly — ever want to get to get that close to zero.
I think that goal is realistic in our lifetime but we have to shape that future.
Mort I appreciate you taking the time to research this and calling attention to the unnecessary traffic violence that occurs on Portlands streets. That said, you can put me in the disagree audience of this article.
The easiest solution to traffic violence as proven by Europe is a viable alternative to driving. Cars are dangerous at high speeds and when the infrastructure is designed for cars to move fast, bad things happen.
I'm a member of strong towns pdx, a local (very politically active) chapter of the national advocacy organization Strong Towns. In article linked below Chuck Mahron highlights something DOTs don't like to admit because it goes against the status quo: deaths during the pandemic went up because less people were driving, so there was less congestion and people could drive faster. As we have returned to "normal" congestion has returned and we have to drive slower.
https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2025/2/24/traffic-deaths-are-down-but-not-for-the-reasons-were-being-told
As a bike commuter and transit advocate myself i will say the streets are not safe enough for biking for a majority of the population and transit is woefully insufficient and inconvenient (plus we're defunding it). We have no VIABLE alternative to driving in Portland, so people drive. And deaths occur.
But we don't need more cars, or sketchy corporations to mediate our transportation needs. We just need our streets to be designed for alternatives to cars. And not just some, and not just painted lanes. We need to take advice from European countries that have proven Vision Zero is possible, i'm looking at you Sweden:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240517-vision-zero-how-europe-cut-the-number-of-people-dying-on-its-roads
So, I totally agree with you, to a point. I want more walkable communities where we don’t have to drive. I think it’s crazy that we can drive down NW 13th or Alberta at all, to be honest. I think Alberta should be a Europe-style “high” street that’s pedestrian only except in the early morning when deliveries come through.
And yet…
Portland has ~60 yearly deaths per million inhabitants. The EU average is 44 per million inhabitants. In Sweden, it’s 20 per million.
Don’t get me wrong. I would love to get to 20 deaths per million. But that's still not zero. Moreover, I don't see a real politically viable path to zero without autonomy.
To me it’s a question of both / and. We should operate our roads to be more like Europe!
My goal is for pedestrian deaths to be as shocking and as rare as lightning, shark attack, or cougar deaths. The sort of thing that that is so rare that it’s front page news. We still need to migrate to AVs if we — or the EU, frankly — ever want to get to get that close to zero.
I think that goal is realistic in our lifetime but we have to shape that future.