This web version of the newsletter includes updated information and differs slightly from the version that was emailed on Monday, December 22 at 1:50 p.m.
In this email
- When will the Portland 2025 Deadly Traffic Crash Report be available?
- PBOT offers $10 discounts for a Safe Ride Home this New Year's Eve
- Speed and red-light safety cameras return, with new vendor, new technology
- Help shape a safety project on SE Stark and Washington streets
- Ask a PBOT expert
- Speed limit changes
- High Crash Network safety projects
- Leaf Day street sweeping service continues through mid-January
- Get home safe: Snow and ice travel tips
- Access the latest deadly crash data
- Remember to say crash, not accident!
- Free Vision Zero materials and yard signs
- Personal safety community resources
- What we're reading
When will the Portland 2025 Deadly Traffic Crash Report be available?
Each winter, Vision Zero staff evaluate and analyze the previous calendar year's deadly traffic crashes in Portland and reports on local trends.
Understanding the circumstances and factors associated with the loss of each of these lives is core to our work. The people who have died on Portland's streets were children, parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, neighbors, and friends. Their lives were cut short. Their loss has left gaping holes in the hearts of those who knew them and loved them.
The city expects to publish a final deadly traffic crash report with preliminary 2025 figures in the first three months of 2026. Vision Zero staff analyze all deadly and serious injury crashes for all modes – pedestrians, people on bikes, people on motorcycles, and people in motor vehicles. The program also analyzes all other crashes involving pedestrians and people on bikes, regardless of severity.
Learn more about Annual Deadly Traffic Crash Report
How to get the latest deadly crash information
To learn about deadly crashes in a timely manner sign up for Portland Police Bureau news releases via email. The news releases include updates on deadly crashes as well as public safety, critical incidents, and efforts to build trust and transparency.
Sign up for Portland Police Bureau news releases
Preliminary deadly crash data updated monthly
Also available is the Vision Zero dashboard, which provides crash statistics on all deadly and serious injury crashes and all other crashes involving pedestrians and people on bikes, regardless of severity. Additionally, the Vision Zero dashboard displays information about traffic safety improvements from the past five to 10 years and data relating to performance measures. Preliminary deadly crash data is updated monthly, while other data is updated quarterly or annually, based on availability.
Access the Vision Zero dashboard
PBOT offers $10 discounts for a Safe Ride Home this New Year's Eve
To help everyone get home safely this New Year's Eve, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is offering coupons for $10 off Uber and Lyft rides, downloadable from the Safe Ride Home website. Rides must begin in Portland and are valid from 7 p.m. Dec. 31, 2025 to 4 a.m. Jan. 1, 2026, while supplies last.
Want to get home using public transit instead? PBOT encourages the traveling public to hop on any TriMet bus or MAX or Portland Streetcar after 8 p.m. for free service. C-TRAN will also provide free rides starting at 6 p.m. through the end of the service day.
Last year, PBOT's Safe Ride Home helped over 2,100 partygoers celebrate New Year's Eve in Portland responsibly and get home safely.
On New Year's Eve, nighttime travel is especially dangerous
While it's a time of celebration, New Year's Eve can also be dangerous on streets and highways. As one of the shortest days of year, more people travel when it is dark and visibility is limited. People driving while impaired by alcohol or other drugs corresponds with higher rates of traffic deaths in Portland and in cities across the country.
Nationwide, nighttime driving in December 2023 was significantly more dangerous than daytime driving, with 30% of drivers involved in deadly traffic crashes between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. being under the influence of alcohol. Almost half of drivers involved in deadly crashes between the hours of midnight and 2:59 a.m. were impaired by alcohol, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Year after year, dark conditions and impairment are top contributing factors to deadly crashes in Portland. Last year, 86% of pedestrian deaths and 83% of all traffic deaths occurred in darker conditions (from dusk to dawn) while between 2019 and 2023, 70% of Portland's deadly crashes involved alcohol and/or drug impairment.
Historically, pedestrian crashes increase sharply in the winter months as daylight hours shrink and more people travel in dark conditions. For 10 years through 2023, Portland averaged 20 traffic crashes a month involving pedestrians with spikes in December (27), nearly twice as high in July (14).
The increased risk means it's even more crucial for everyone traveling — whether driving, taking transit, rolling, biking, or walking — to use extra caution.
Get your Safe Ride Home discount for New Year's Eve
Speed and red-light safety cameras return, with new vendor, new technology
Last month, speed and intersection safety cameras on high crash corridors resumed enforcement after transitioning to a new vendor. Currently, there are 16 safety cameras enforcing speed and traffic signal violations across the city. These upgraded cameras will immediately start issuing citations for violations resulting in fines from $170 to $440. The equipment is new, but because the camera-based enforcement at locations is not, warnings will not be issued. The city will continue its protocol to issue notifications and 30-day warnings for all new safety camera corridors.
The new vendor is upgrading the system to replace all cameras with new LiDAR technology monitoring 24/7 for possible infractions. Each week, more safety cameras will resume enforcement until all 32 are upgraded and three new cameras are added.
Safety cameras are part of the city's efforts to reduce dangerous speeding and save lives.
Learn more about safety cameras
Help shape a safety project on SE Stark and Washington streets
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is seeking input from community members and local businesses before finalizing a new, safer design of SE Stark and Washington streets, between 92nd and 108th avenues.
Background
The SE Stark and Washington streets couplet runs through a major business district, the Gateway Regional Center. However, the segment between SE 92nd and 108th avenues was designed primarily for vehicle traffic. It has 3-4 lanes in both directions and limited on-street parking. Sidewalks and bike lanes are narrow, and it is very difficult to cross these streets as a pedestrian. Data shows a high rate of crashes along this corridor.
Goals
The SE Stark and Washington Street Safety Project aims to:
- Reduce serious and deadly crashes
- Improve biking and walking conditions
- Improve transit reliability and access
- Adding on-street parking and planting trees
- Increase walking, biking and transit use in the area
Learn more about the SE Stark and Washington Street Safety Project
Ask a PBOT expert
Our Vision Zero inbox is filled with thoughtful questions from community members about traffic safety — and our team strives to provide equally thoughtful answers. These exchanges often spark meaningful conversations, and we believe they deserve a bigger audience! That's why we're sharing some of these questions and answers in our newsletter, edited for clarity and brevity, to highlight insights and ideas that benefit us all.
Question: What are you doing about people who drive way over the speed limit?
Answer: Speeding is a top contributing factor to traffic deaths in Portland. In 2024, 48% of traffic deaths involved speeding. Vision Zero focuses on actions that slow down people driving to reduce crashes and the severity of injuries. When people drive slower, they can stop more quickly to avoid a crash, and crashes that do happen are less likely to cause serious injury or death.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) partners with the Oregon Department of Transportation to set safe speed limits. In 2024, we lowered speed limits on 23 miles of streets. We are also redesigning dangerous streets to encourage safe speeds, adjusting signal timing, and installing safety cameras for automatic speed enforcement in crash hotspots.
Another effort to address egregious speeding is led by Portland's chapter of Families for Safe Streets to introduce an Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) bill in the Oregon State Legislature. This safety technology prevents "super speeders" — people with multiple criminal convictions for excessive speeding — from driving above the posted speed limit. Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. have passed laws requiring ISA for "super speeders," and similar efforts are underway in Arizona, California, Maryland, and New York.
Families for Safe Streets launched the ISA legislative concept in Oregon at World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims last month. The group is moving to introduce ISA legislation during the Oregon State Legislature's 2027 session.
Learn more about Intelligent Speed Assistance
Speed limit changes
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is updating speed limits citywide to set safe travel speeds. Why? Because speed is a top contributing factor to traffic deaths. Safe speeds lower the risk of crashes, and when crashes occur, safe speeds make it less likely that people are killed or seriously injured. We track speed limit changes online.
Recent changes
Locations where PBOT reduced the speed limit in the past three months.
35 to 30 mph
- NE Holman/ 105th Ave from Sandy Boulevard to Airport Way
30 to 25 mph
- NW/SW Miller Road from NW Cornell to SW Barnes roads
- SW Vermont Street from Oleson Road to Capitol Highway
- SE 92nd Avenue from Stark Street to 91st Place
25 to 20 mph
- N Russell Street from N Interstate Ave to N Kerby Ave
Upcoming changes
Locations where PBOT recently received approval from the Oregon Department of Transportation to reduce the speed limit. PBOT will post new speed limit signs in the upcoming months.
45 to 40 mph
- SE McLoughlin Boulevard from Franklin to Harold streets
- NE Lombard/ Killingsworth streets from 450' east of 82nd Avenue to Sandy Boulevard
- SE Foster Road from Barbara Welch to Cheldin Road
45 to 35 mph
- NE Lombard/Killingsworth streets from 82nd Ave to 450' east of 82nd Avenue
40 to 35 mph
- N Columbia Boulevard from Portsmouth Avenue to Upland Drive
40 to 30 mph
- 138th Avenue to Marine Drive and Sandy Boulevard
35 to 30 mph
- N Schmeer Road from Interstate to Vancouver avenues
- N Whitaker Way from 122nd to 138th avenues
- SW Bertha Boulevard from Barbur Boulevard to Chestnut Drive
30 to 25 mph
- NE Killingsworth Street from 42nd Avenue to Lombard Street
- N Mississippi Avenue from Cook to Russell streets
- SE Division Street from 3rd to 8th avenues
- SE Thorburn Street and Gilham Avenue to Washington Street and I-205
Establish 25 mph speed limit
- NE Holman Street from 80th Avenue to 82nd Avenue Frontage Road
- NE 82nd Avenue Frontage Road from Holman Street to 82nd Avenue
25 to 20 mph
- SE Belmont Street from Grand to 49th avenues
- S Corbett Avenue from Grover to Hamilton streets
Learn more about speed limit changes in Portland
High Crash Network safety projects
Portland Bureau of Transportation prioritizes safety investments on our highest crash streets and intersections in areas with higher proportions of people of color and people living with lower incomes. In 2024, 71% of traffic deaths occurred on the High Crash Network. We track recently completed and currently under construction High Crash Network projects online.
Learn more about High Crash Network safety projects
Leaf Day street sweeping service continues through mid-January
From November to mid-January each year, the Portland Bureau of Transportation's (PBOT) Leaf Day service helps us provide cleaner, safer streets, keep our storm drains clear, and ensure our intersections don't flood. Leaf Day pickup is free for residents in Leaf Zones, primarily those with the highest concentration of mature street trees. There is no need to opt in or out.
For emergency road hazards, clogged storm drains, or other hazards in the right-of-way such as downed signs, continue to contact PBOT's 24/7 Maintenance Dispatch at 503-823-1700.
Get home safe: Snow and ice travel tips
During winter storms, crews with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) work 24/7 to clear hazards from city streets and keep emergency routes open. Before the storm arrives, plan for winter weather:
- Create an emergency plan for winter with family and co-workers. Plan to work from home if you can or take public transit.
- Make a checklist for your home, business, and vehicle. Have ice melt and snow shovels ready to clear sidewalks. Consider overhead dangers such as trees or powerlines. Be prepared to keep ditches, culverts, and trash racks clear of debris if your home or business is in an area prone to landslides. Carry snow chains for your vehicles.
- Stay informed. Sign up for PBOT alerts via text or email. Follow @PBOTInfo on all social media. Visit PBOT's Guide to the Winter Weather Center to learn how to track the latest weather, traffic, road closure, and snowplow information.
- Stock up on food, water, clothes, and medications you, your family, your pets, or your business will need in case you are stranded by winter weather — at home or in your vehicle.
- Check in with vulnerable neighbors who may need help ahead of a storm or clearing their sidewalks afterward.
- Prepare to move your car off PBOT's "snow and ice" routes to give room for snowplows and other equipment.
Learn more about how to plan for winter weather
Access the latest deadly crash data
Our Vision Zero dashboard provides an overview of traffic safety improvements from the past five to 10 years — as well as data relating to our performance measures. Staff update the dashboard regularly. Preliminary deadly crash data is updated monthly, while other data is updated quarterly or annually, based on availability.
Learn more about the Vision Zero dashboard
Remember to say crash, not accident!
We want to change the way we talk about crashes and remind each other that they are predictable and preventable. A Vision Zero approach refuses to accept the idea that crashes are inevitable. That's why we're saying crash, not accident! Will you join us?
Learn more about why we say crash, not accident
Free Vision Zero materials and yard signs
Help educate the people in your community about Vision Zero, Portland's commitment to eliminate serious and fatal traffic injuries. Order and receive reflective stickers and pins, brochures, and fliers in the mail or pick-up a yard sign. Materials are available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Lao, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Return of "20 is plenty" yard signs!
You loved them, and now they're back! Come get your "20 is plenty" yard sign at the Portland Building (1120 SW Fifth Ave.) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
20 mph speed limit supports safety
Most residential streets in Portland are narrow, have few marked crosswalks, and no bike lanes. Given the neighborhood use and lack of protection for people walking, using mobility devices, and biking, it is important that people drive slowly on residential streets.
Slower speeds lower the risk of crashes. When crashes occur, slower speeds make it less likely that people are killed or seriously injured. A pedestrian struck by a person driving 20 mph is four times more likely to survive than a pedestrian struck at 40 mph.
Learn more about how to get free Vision Zero materials
Personal safety community resources
We want to help create a transportation system that allows all people to feel safe getting where they need to go. We put together free, accessible personal safety resources for community members, including how to report anon-urgent traffic safety concern, report bias and hate, participate in a self-defense workshop, and more.
Learn more about personal safety community resources
What we're reading
- America's plan to protect pedestrians failed. A young woman's death reveals why. (The Washington Post)
- States crack down on aggressive driving (Stateline)
- The deadliest roads in America (The Washington Post)
- Opinion: Where cities are investing, Vision Zero is working (Streetsblog)
- Top 10 Vision Zero plan elements that inspire us (Vision Zero Network)
- A bright idea for road safety: Traffic light timing (Bloomberg CityLab)
- Gridlock Guy: The faster drivers go, the less and less they gain; false benefits and increased risks of speeding (11Alive)
- Central Oregon makes it easier for e-bikes, even as vouchers uncertain from state (OPB)
- How Trump's transportation department is loosening safety rules meant to protect the public (ProPublica)
- Let's fix what's actually broken in our impaired driving laws (The Seattle Times)
- DOT finally realizes women exist, authorizes female crash test dummies (Jalopnik)
- Could cities partner with guerilla urbanists for safer streets? (Next City)
Parts of this document were edited with the support of ChatGPT. City staff reviewed and fact-checked all content.