Oregon Highway Safety Report

AASHTO – SCOHTS 2005 
 

GRADUATED DRIVER LICENSING

   Oregon’s 5-year-old graduated driver licensing program for new drivers younger than 18 years has improved traffic safety, according to a federal study. The study – the Evaluation of Oregon’s Graduated Driver Licensing Program sponsored by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced March 14, 2005 – cited several safety benefits:

• Crash rates declined for both male and female drivers age 16 to 17, particularly for 16-year-old drivers in the first six months of holding a license – when Oregon restrictions are strictest. During 1998 in Oregon, before graduated driver licensing, there were 1,196 fatal or injury crashes with a 16-year-old behind the wheel of the car, according to ODOT crash data. That figure declined to 898 in 2000, when graduated licensing began to have an impact. It further declined to 810 in 2001, 743 in 2002 and 751 in 2003.
• Crash rates for young male drivers – typically higher than for young female drivers – generally fell closer to female rates.
• Rates of traffic convictions and license suspensions declined for all teenagers, not only for 16- and 17-year-old drivers but also for 18- and 19-year-old novice drivers.
• Teenagers who took a driver’s education course showed significantly lower rates of traffic convictions, crashes and license suspensions.

OREGON TRAFFIC FATALITIES DECLINE

   The number of deaths on Oregon roads decreased 13 percent in 2004, dropping from 512 in 2003 to 445 last year, according to preliminary figures from the ODOT Crash Analysis Unit. Oregon's number of traffic fatalities over the past five years has not been this low since the 1950s.

   Among the factors saving lives:

• Oregon ranks fourth nationally at 92.6 percent compliance in safety belt use, according to NHTSA. Arizona leads the nation at 95.3 percent, followed by Hawaii, Washington and Oregon.
• Law enforcement has concentrated on corridors such as the U.S. 26 work zone from Zigzag to Rhododendron. The combination of the work zone, high traffic volume and excessive speed led to 13 traffic deaths between Sandy and Government Camp during 2003. Concentrated patrols by law enforcement helped cut that figure to zero for 2004.
• Enhanced work-zone enforcement efforts statewide also helped reduce the number of highway worker deaths from seven in 2001 to five in 2002, two in 2003, and zero last year.
• ODOT has implemented safety improvements throughout the state in locations where crash analyses have indicated needs. These improvements include: increased overtime enforcement funding; left-turn refuges; rumble strips; durable striping; pedestrian crossings; school zone light and sign upgrades; and safety belt, DUII and Safety Corridor signs.
• Another improvement is the extension of the cable barrier on the Interstate 5 median from Tualatin to Wilsonville. This barrier helps prevent head-on collisions resulting from vehicles crossing the highway median into oncoming traffic.

SPEED LIMIT INCREASE

   Oregon raised the speed limit on four urban sections of interstate highways after completing a safety and engineering study and collecting public input mandated by House Bill 2661 from the 2003 Oregon Legislature.

   The Oregon Transportation Commission adopted the ODOT recommendations in fall 2004 to raise the speed limit for sections of interstate highways from 55 mph to 60 mph in Medford, Eugene, Salem and Portland. The speed limit for trucks remained 55 mph in those sections, and the remainder of Oregon’s interstate system remained at its current limits of 65 mph for cars and 55 mph for trucks.

   According to HB 2661, any increase to 70 mph for cars would have to be accompanied by an increase to 65 mph for trucks because of the increased risks posed by higher speed differences between vehicles. The study showed that increasing the speed limit by 10 mph for trucks could not be achieved without affecting public safety. 
 

MEDICALLY AT-RISK DRIVER PROGRAM

   Oregon’s Medically At-Risk Driver Program became effective statewide June 1, 2004, with the addition of the Portland metropolitan area and Eastern Oregon. The program requires health care providers to report to DMV when a driver becomes too impaired, physically or mentally, to safely drive a vehicle and when the impairment cannot be corrected through treatment or through adaptive driving techniques or equipment.

   During a yearlong phase-in across the state, health care providers made 964 referrals to DMV through mid-May 2004. Of these, 656 drivers were suspended immediately. About 140 individuals whose impairments didn’t meet the threshold of severe and uncontrollable were suspended or asked to retake DMV tests. The most common impairments are mental, not physical -- judgment, reaction time and memory. People often have more than one impairment.

   Although drivers of all ages can become impaired in some way, about 57 percent of the referrals were for individuals age 70 years or older. There were 11 referrals for individuals age 20 or younger. There are about 2.9 million licensed drivers in Oregon.

   The program is the first in the nation based on impairments. Although it is not age-based, the program is a result of growing concerns across the nation about the impact of an aging population and the potential risks of age-related impairments to drivers, their passengers, other drivers and pedestrians. 
 

GREEN LIGHT CLEARS 5 MILLIONTH TRUCK

   The ODOT Green Light Weigh Station Preclearance Program let the 5 millionth truck stay on the highway in January 2005. At 12:14 p.m. Jan. 27, the seven-axle truck No. 9 for Williams Bros. Trucking of Union bypassed the Olds Ferry weigh station on Interstate 84 near Farewell Bend and became the 5 millionth vehicle to be precleared by the system.

   The Green Light Program, which has been in operation since 1997, allows trucks to avoid stopping at weigh stations by collecting vehicle weight, height, identification number and other data as they pass weigh-in-motion scales and transponder readers installed on the highway. Transponders inside the trucks transmit the vehicle ID information and then receive a go or stop signal from the preclearance system about a quarter-mile ahead of the weigh station. In most cases, the driver will get a green light, indicating that a stop is unnecessary. A red light tells the driver to pull into the scale for a weigh-in or inspection. Oregon’s Green Light Program serves 3,380 companies, with over 30,000 transponder-equipped vehicles.

   The program has saved money for the trucking industry and ODOT, and improved safety for all highway users.

   In 2004 alone, more than 1.2 million trucks received the green light to keep on truckin’. Using an estimated five minutes of time savings at an average of $1.24 per minute in operating costs, trucking firms saved nearly $7.5 million last year by participating in the preclearance program.

   With trucks leaving and returning the highways more than a million times fewer each year, the risks of crashes because of merging and speed differential have decreased. 
 

TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ACTION PLAN

   The Oregon Transportation Commission approved an updated Oregon Transportation Safety Action Plan in June 2004, renewing and strengthening the focus of efforts to continue a long-term trend of reducing deaths and injuries in Oregon over the next 20 to 40 years.

   Although Oregon has made great progress in reducing fatalities in the past 20 to 30 years, traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for people under age 35. Concerns also persist about fatalities among pedestrians and roadside workers, secondary crashes on urban highways, thinly stretched emergency response services, and conflicts between motor vehicles and other modes of transportation amid a growing population. Among the most alarming statistics:

• Alcohol and/or drugs are involved in about 45 percent of fatal crashes in Oregon.
• Safety restraints are not in used by the victim in half the state’s fatal crashes.
• Speed contributes to half of fatal crashes.
• Drivers younger than 21 account for 18 percent of drivers involved in fatal and injury crashes but make up only 8 percent of Oregon’s driving population.

   The updated plan adopted 69 actions chosen by the Oregon Transportation Safety Committee after the panel studied crash data and information from more than 150 transportation safety experts who presented their views on safety problems and promising solutions.

   Nine of the actions respond to factors that contribute most to deaths and injuries – impaired driving, failure to use safety restraints, speed and lack of driving experience. Other actions address a wide variety of high-priority problems affecting all modes of transportation.

   Many of the actions can be achieved with existing resources and staff, and a few require a modest initial investment of planning and refocusing of resources. Many of these planning efforts should be finished before the 2007 Legislative session.