Five Portland intersections where people where killed in traffic collisions since Christmas Eve.
For too many families, the holiday break has been a nightmare instead of a joyful celebration.
Portland streets claimed five more victims since Christmas Eve and our annual traffic toll has once again reached its highest level for at least three decades. Despite years of local leaders being committed to “Vision Zero” and a return of the Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division, 71 people have been killed on Portland streets so far this year.
After choosing to scale back its Traffic Division as part of a political game to win more funding from City Hall, the PPB renewed its enforcement efforts back in May. At a press conference to announce 14 officers would return to patrol streets for traffic violations and crimes, Portland Bureau of Transportation Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera said, “We are hopeful this will help us kind of set a new trend, post-pandemic, of less traffic violence on the streets.”
Unfortunately that has not yet come to pass. Too many of our streets remain dangerous by design, and too many road users remain woefully unwilling to use them safely.
PBOT map showing High Crash Network streets (light yellow) and crashes.
The five deaths since December 24th have all happened in predictable places: N Columbia Blvd, SE Stark, SE 122nd, SW Barbur, SE Powell. These are part of PBOT’s “High Crash Network” where we’ve seen a higher than average amount of traffic violence year after year after year.
PBOT has tried for years to provide safety on N Columbia near N Oregonian, where 18-year-old McKenzie Libro was killed while riding as a passenger in a car on the Sunday before Christmas. A dangerous street design and 45 mph speed limit was compounded by a speeding driver who was arrested for several crimes including Manslaughter, Negligent Homicide, and DUII.
Less than 24 hours later, on Christmas Day, someone walking across SE Stark at 106th was hit and killed by the driver of a car. The driver in that collision also committed felony hit-and-run. Another driver who police suspect was under the influence, drove through the scene as the Major Crash Team was doing their investigation.
Around 1:00 pm that same day, officers responded to a single vehicle fatal crash on SW Barbur Blvd at Taylors Ferry Rd. Police say the victim is an adult male.
The third fatality on Christmas happened on SE 122nd just south of Powell Blvd. This appears to have been two drivers who collided with each other. It also marked the fifth person to be killed while using 122nd Ave so far this year. When someone was hit and killed while walking across 122nd at SE Glisan earlier this month, I referred to 122nd as a serial killer. The street remains on the loose while authorities piece together a strategy they hope will prevent it from killing again.
And underscoring the depths of driver dysfunction in our city, Portland Police Public Information Manager Mike Benner revealed at a press conference Tuesday that two drunk drivers rolled onto the scene while officers investigated the crash.
122nd would strike again about 24 hours later. Just yesterday (12/26), police found themselves standing over another dead body just one mile north of Powell on 122nd. Another walker had been hit and killed crossing the street by two separate drivers. One driver failed to stop and is now wanted for hit-and-run.
This isn’t just a transportation problem. Street design and safety projects are important — but this is largely a crime problem and a cultural problem. And pinning this on the “failure of Vision Zero” is mostly lazy scapegoating that blames government and absolves individuals from taking responsibility for their actions.
City Commissioner Mingus Mapps has been in charge of the transportation bureau for nearly one year now. After yet another spate of violence traffic collisions this past summer, Mapps (like many of his predecessors) called an emergency press conference. In an interview following that event Mapps singled out driver behavior as a major culprit and said he was “dissatisfied with the culture change piece” of the problem and told me, “The next thing that I’m leaning into is, how do we bring about this culture change?”
Mapps said his goal was to do weekly educational events to remind drivers their decisions can lead to terrible consequences. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Mapps has done nothing to follow up on this promise. Instead he has overseen a bureau that has been beset by controversy, has made decisions that put road users at more risk, and has lost the trust of many Portlanders.
To restore trust in our leaders, and more importantly, trust in our streets, we must do something dramatically different. Our streets are a reflection of the problems we face as a city and they will remain unsafe until we throw out our current playbook, grab the bull by the horns, and move forward with a political resolve that is stronger than the threats we face.
Here’s to hoping we get our act together in 2024; and that I never have to write a story like this again.
