How to use the Vision Zero Dashboard

Guide
Map of Portland showing the major streets of the High Crash Network in grey and, along these streets, blue, orange, or green lines to indicate where safety projects have been completed, started, or starting soon.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has launched the Vision Zero dashboard to maintain transparency about street safety improvements, automated enforcement, community engagement, and more. This page explains what data is included, how to use the dashboard, and descriptions of each section.
On this page

What data is included?

Several data sources are used in the Vision Zero dashboard, with data on each topic coming from a different source. The topics presented in the dashboard are: 

  1. Street design 

  1. Speed limit reductions 

  1. Fixed speed safety cameras

  1. Education and outreach 

  1. Recent traffic crashes

All data on safety infrastructure and projects comes from PBOT project teams and project managers. More details about projects shown on the dashboard can be found on project websites where available or by contacting the project team. 

Speed limit reductions in Portland are requested by PBOT and officially approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT. Each request includes the endpoints of the segment of street and the new posted speed requested.  

Each of the fixed speed safety cameras collect data on the number of vehicles that pass each location and the speed at which they were traveling. PBOT manages the fixed speed safety camera system and accesses aggregated data through a secure database.  

Vision Zero’s education and outreach team organizes their own events and partnerships with the community. Data on events attended or organized is tracked by date, location, participation, and community partnerships. Yard signs with safety messages are distributed to community members by request and serve as reminders in neighborhoods to practice safe driving behaviors. 

Traffic crash data in the dashboard is provided Portland Fire & Rescue. When someone calls to report a crash, Fire & Rescue dispatches first responders to the scene to provide medical aid and cleanup. This data is for calls that either were dispatched as a traffic crash or were discovered to be a traffic crash when responders arrived. This is not the typical crash data source for Vision Zero, which usually comes from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). However ODOT data is not yet available for 2020 and Fire & Rescue's data is more timely. In Fire & Rescue data, it is unclear how many injuries occurred in a crash, injury severity, and the transportation mode people were using when the crash happened.

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


How to use the dashboard

We have designed the dashboard using the Tableau platform. It shows a lot of data without having to change any of the settings. However, this guide helps you use the dashboard to explore the data in different ways. 

Once you feel ready to use the dashboard, click the link below: 

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard

Each section in the dashboard is fully interactive, meaning you can click, select, filter, and hover over any items in a map or chart to change the display or show more information.

Legends

Legends are there to help provide detail on colors, shapes, and sizes of lines or markings on a map or chart. Legends are typically at the top right corner of the display. Click on any category in a legend to highlight only that category in the map or chart. To bring back all categories to the display, click any blank space in the legend. To the right are some examples of legends from the Dashboard.

Two examples of color legends in the Vision Zero Dashboard.

Filters

Filtering is a powerful tool on the Vision Zero dashboard. Not all maps and charts have filter capabilities, but where they do, you can filter the data that is displayed. Filters allow you to select time periods or categories that are shown. There are two main types of filters in the dashboard: sliders and checklists. You can isolate data by using the slider where available to select a range of dates by moving the half circles along the line. You can also click on the dates to type in the date range you would like to display on the map. This isolates the data you want to display and filters out the rest.

Example of a slider filter on the Vision Zero Dashboard.

Checklists

Another filter type in the dashboard is the checklist. In the example here, you can deselect the categories you don't want to display in the map or chart. The example here is a drop-down checklist that will display when you click on the drop-down arrow pictured at right. Deselect the items you don't want to display on the map. To add data back to the display, click on the appropriate check boxes.

Example of checkbox filters on the Vision Zero Dashboard.

Navigate for more detail

All maps allow you to see more detail using the map tools at the top left corner of all maps, shown in the image here. Map tools are zoom in (+) and out (-), home symbol to take you back to the default zoom, and a triangle at the bottom that has more options. The additional options from left to right are to zoom to a selected area (square with magnifying glass), navigating tool, and three types of selection tools to select data in a square, circle, or freeform shape.

If you use the selection tools to select data on the map, you can release the selection by clicking anywhere outside of the selected area and all data will return to the display.

Example of map tools from the Vision Zero Dashboard.

Throughout the page, the PBOT or Vision Zero will take you back to our main websites. Other icons in the dashboard let you sign up for various updates and opportunities. 

To start exploring the dashboard, click on the link below:

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


Section 1: Street Design

Last updated: October 11, 2021

The map in this section of the dashboard shows where we have built something new to create safer streets on the High Crash Network. This includes where we've added better street lighting, reduced conflict points, or otherwise offered safe places for people to cross the street and bike along the street. Please note that this map does not show all PBOT safety improvements or projects that are currently being planned.

In this map (screenshot here), the color of the line represents the project status. Blue is a completed project. Orange is a project that started in 2020 or 2021. And projects in green are starting soon. The High Crash Network is shown in grey. Zoom in to see smaller projects like crossing improvements, curb ramps, or new signals. Hover your cursor over any project to learn more about that project, including the improvement type, a brief description, and the year the project was built.

A map of safety improvement projects on the High Crash Network.

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


Section 2: Managing Speeds

Last updated: October 11, 2021

Excessive speed is one of the most common factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. Speed limits must take into consideration everyone using the roadways, from pedestrians to people biking, scooting, or driving. Typically, speed limits are lowest on residential streets and other places where people driving share the road regularly with pedestrians and people biking. In addition to the design of the street, speed limits are a critical way we ensure safer travel for everyone. 

Death due to speed
Small changes in speed result can dramatically increase risk to pedestrians.

The map in this section (screenshot here) shows street segments where the posted speed was reduced in 2019 and 2020. Color shows the new posted speed, ranging from 20 to 40 mph, on a color scale from yellow to orange to red. Hover your mouse over the street segments to see more information about this speed reduction, including street name, when the change took effect, the speed limit before and after, and the length of the street segment in miles. The bar chart on the right shows how many miles where speed limits were reduced in 2019 and 2020.

Screen shot of Vision Zero dashboard showing a map of Portland and indicating where speed limits were reduced in 2019 and 2020. Streets on the High Crash Network are indicated in thick grey lines. Sections of road where speed limits were reduced are shown in a differenct colors, from light yellow, indicating 20 mph, to a dark red tone, indicating 40 mph. A bar chart to the right shows the total miles of road with speed limits reduced, per year. It indicates 60.07 miles for 2019, and 38.26 miles for 2020.
Screenshot of the dashboard section showing sections of street where speed limits were reduced in 2019 and 2020, with the new speed indicated from a scale of light yellow (20 mph) to darker red (40 mph). A bar graph to the right shows the total miles of road where speeds were reduced each year.

Learn more about Portland speed limits

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


Section 3: Fixed Speed Safety Cameras

Last updated: October 11, 2021

Speed is a factor in about half of Portland’s traffic deaths. We use a suite of tools to address high speeds, including physical changes to streets, reducing speed limits, educating drivers and enforcing the speed limit. Portland’s eight fixed speed safety cameras have achieved a 57% decrease in speeding and 85% decrease in drivers going faster than 10 mph over the speed limit.

In 2021, PBOT will add additional cameras on other High Crash Network streets in Portland.

The map in this section (screenshot here) has orange stars showing where fixed speed safety cameras are located in Portland. Currently there are two cameras on SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, two on NE Marine Drive, two on SE Division Street, and two on SE 122nd Avenue. Hover your mouse over any camera location to see more information about its location, the direction of enforcement, the posted speed, the highest daily average violation speed, and the daily average speed of all vehicles that traveled past that camera in 2020.

A map from the Vision Zero Dashboard showing locations of fixed speed cameras in Portland in 2020.

A separate horizontal bar chart shows how many vehicles passed each fixed speed safety camera in 2020. The bars are shaded in blue, from lighter tones to darker indicating a scale of where there are lower average rate of violations (lighter blue) to higher (darker blue). Hover your cursor over any of the bars for more information about that camera location including number of vehicle passes (traffic volume), the number of violations, and the average rate of violation per vehicle passes.

A horizontal bar chart from the Vision Zero Dashboard showing the number of vehicle passes and violation rates at each fixed speed safety camera in 2020.

A third chart (not pictured) is a graph showing the number of monthly violations at each camera location in 2020. There are a total of eight lines, shown here in pairs for each corridor being enforced. Blue lines represent Marine Drive. Orange and yellow are 122nd Avenue, pink and red is Division Street, and green is Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. Hover your cursor over any point of a line to see the camera location, the month and year, and the number of violations in that month.

Learn more about fixed speed safety cameras in Portland

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


Section 4: Education and Outreach

Last updated: July 15, 2021

Education and outreach are essential to get everyone to travel safer, improving safety for everyone on the road. This means promoting information about traffic laws and changes in infrastructure along the road. It means developing a sense of shared responsibility for all Portlanders to travel safely and make safer choices. This dashboard (screenshot here) shows where we conducted transportation safety education and outreach from 2018 to 2021. It also indicates what type of education we provided.  This map shows where PBOT's Vision Zero team hosted or attended events from 2018 to 2020. The legend indicates what type of events each color represents. Larger circles indicate more events at that location. Hover your mouse over any circle on the map to learn more about those events including dates, number of attendees, languages offered, and the communities represented.

A map from the Vision Zero Dashboard showing locations of education and outreach events hosted by Portland Vision Zero from 2018 through 2020.
A preview of two yard sign options. The vertical sign on the left says "It's Time to Slow Down, Portland" on one side and "Es Hora de Bajar la velocidad, Portland" on the other side. The second sign says, "Safe Drivers = Good Neighbors" on one side and "Conductores seguros = buenos vecinos" on the oppositeside.
A preview of the two Vision Zero yard signs available.

During the summer of 2020 and spring of 2021, Vision Zero distributed a limited batch of “Thank You Crew” signs to highlight community support of safe streets in Portland. The message choices included some pictured here: 

  • It’s Time to Slow Down, Portland (Es Hora de Bajar la Velocidad, Portland) 
  • Safe Drivers = Good Neighbors (Conductores Seguros = Buenos Vecinos) 
  • Slow Down Save Lives 
  • Safe Driving Saves Lives 
A map from the Vision Zero Dashboard showing where Vision Zero yard signs were distributed to in 2020 by ZIP code.

A map showing where and how many Vision Zero yard signs have been distributed by ZIP code. Each ZIP code is shaded in orange from lighter shades to darker to indicate which areas have more signs (darker shades). Hover your mouse over any area to show the ZIP code and the number of signs there.

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard


Section 5: Recent Traffic Crashes

Last updated: April 8, 2021

Portland's Vision Zero goal is to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries on Portland streets. Understanding traffic crash patterns is essential to this work. Knowing who, what, where, when, why, and how a crash happens helps us design safer roads and tells us where it is most critical to build infrastructure, lower speed limits, and continue our outreach and education.

Crash data highlights that pedestrians are particularly at risk and make up over one-third of Portland's traffic deaths.

A screen shot of the Portland Vision Zero crash webmap.

Full data on the severity of injuries in a crash, and the mode of travel, is provided by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and can take up to two years to be fully reported to agencies like PBOT. For this more complete data (screenshot here), please visit our map of Portland Traffic Deaths and Injuries since 2009 or visit map.visionzeroportland.com.

Crash data from 2019 and 2020 on this dashboard is provided by Portland Fire & Rescue. This data could be particularly useful for understanding emerging potential trends and hotspots for pedestrian crashes; increasing PBOT's timely review and intervention. However, all crashes Portland Fire & Rescue responded to are included in the dataset, including those where there were no injuries, or where the extent of injuries was unknown. Although not as complete as ODOT data, it is more timely. 

A map of the Portland Fire & Rescue Response Locations as shown on the Vision Zero Dashboard.

The map in this section (screenshot here) shows where Portland Fire & Rescue responded to crashes in 2019 and 2020. Each symbol represents a crash. The larger the symbol, the more crashes at that location. Color and shape indicate the type of crash. Blue squares indicate that the crash involved a pedestrian--a key focus for Portland's safety efforts. Orange circles represent crashes with injuries of any kind, minor to severe. Light-blue plus signs represent crashes where it's unknown if there were injuries. You can use the filter at right to narrow the range of dates shown, or filter out different categories of crash type. Hover over any symbol on the map to see more information.

Note: All types of travel are represented here, including pedestrians, people on bikes, people in vehicles, and people on motorcycles. Crashes involving pedestrians are indicated by blue squares.

The next chart (screenshot here) shows weekly number of crashes that Portland Fire & Rescue responded to that involved injuries of any type, minor to severe. We have put data from 2020 side by side with a multi-year average, where the grey line represents the average number of crashes each week from 2014-2019 and the orange line shows crashes in 2020. Hover your mouse over any point on the lines to see the number of crashes that week. 

A line chart of crashes responded to weekly by Portland Fire and Rescue in 2020 compared to the average week.

The weeks highlighted here with grey vertical bars coincide with events happening in the year 2020 related to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the governor’s stay-at-home order (March), some businesses reopening (May), Phase 1 reopening in Multnomah County (June), and the two-week statewide freeze (November).  

Go to the Vision Zero dashboard