(June 21, 2017) – The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Portland Police Bureau will conduct a crosswalk safety education and enforcement action on Thursday, June 22 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the marked crossing on NE Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard at NE Jarrett Streett to raise awareness of pedestrian safety and Oregon traffic laws.
Education and enforcement actions such as the June 22 event are a key part of the City of Portland’s citywide effort to reach its Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Crosswalk education and enforcement actions are an effective way to communicate traffic laws to people driving and walking. The transportation and police bureaus do education and enforcement actions throughout the year in response to requests by community members, city traffic safety engineers, and Portland Police to educate the general public on the rules at marked and unmarked crossings.
Under Oregon law, EVERY intersection is a legal crosswalk whether it is marked or unmarked. People driving must stop and stay stopped for people walking when the pedestrian is in the travel lane or the adjacent lane. Drivers should continually scan their environment watching for people crossing or about to cross and stop according to Oregon law.
Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard is part of the High Crash Network for people walking and biking. The MLK Pedestrian Strategy places the NE Jarrett Street crossings among the corridor’s priority locations based on crash data. Therefore, education and enforcement actions such as the June 22 event are a key part of the City of Portland’s citywide effort to reach its Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Crossings like NE Jarrett Street connect communities of single family homes, apartments, numerous places of worship and amenities like King School Park, Roselawn Park and Mallory Meadows City Park. Local restaurants, a food cart pavilion, banks, coffee shops, retail, salons, convenience stores, auto parts store, grocery store, post office, comedy theater and a local Boys and Girls Club in the immediate area draw patrons, visitors and pedestrians. TriMet’s Frequent Service bus line 6 a runs along Martin Luther King Jr Blvd connecting Goose Hollow, Portland City Center, N/NE Portland, Jantzen Beach and Hayden Island.
Each crosswalk enforcement action involves a designated pedestrian crossing at a marked or unmarked crosswalk while police monitor how people driving, bicycling and walking adhere to traffic safety laws. PBOT staff member, Providance Nagy, will be the designated pedestrian crossing in the marked crosswalk during the mission. Drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk and pedestrians who fail to follow Oregon traffic laws may be issued a warning or citation.
Fixing Our Streets is funding a number of crosswalk treatments along Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard that may include signage upgrades, vegetation removal, protected lefts, striping, curb extensions and illumination.
Learn more about rights and responsibilities for crossing streets in Oregon (in English; Espanol); and view the results of previous actions. Find out more about PBOT’s safety work and Vision Zero, PBOT’s goal of zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2025 by visiting www.visionzeroportland.com. PBOT also invites communities to take a PedPDX survey to help shape priorities for making Portland a more walkable city through its Citywide Pedestrian Plan.