A Washington proposal would ticket drivers who travel too slow in the left lane of highways.
Oregon Department of Transportation
Here's a question: which city has a higher rate of traffic deaths per capita, Portland or New York?
If you guessed Portland, you're right. On average, a little more than 6 people out of 100,000 die on the road in Portland, compared to about 4 per 100,000 in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
On Wednesday, Portland joined a group of cities, led by Stockholm, Sweden, seeking to end all deaths due to traffic accidents.
Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick said Portland's high rate of fatalities compared to other metro areas ought to convince skeptics that the city can dramatically reduce deaths.
"What you do in terms of policy, in terms of engineering, in terms of education and enforcement, does make a difference."
The City Council voted unanimously to adopt a safety plan called Vision Zero. The plan seeks to end all traffic fatalities in the next 10 years, with strategies like road design and lower speed limits.
Casting her vote, Commissioner Amanda Fritz said the key challenge isn't engineering but finding funding for safety projects. Fritz said the state Legislature is not likely to allocate enough transportation funding this session for Portland to address both its safety needs and a paving backlog.
“That’s part of this conversation. What do we as a community want to pay for?" she said.