Traffic deaths in Portland are on track this year to fall to the lowest level since the pandemic began.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation, or PBOT, announced the preliminary numbers for 2025 on Monday.
The city recorded 39 traffic deaths — drivers, cyclists and walkers included — through Dec. 22, which would be the third consecutive annual drop. In all, 58 people died in 2024, and 69 died in 2023.
“While it’s encouraging to see traffic deaths on the decline, we must stay focused on our Vision Zero goal,” Mayor Keith Wilson said in a news release Monday. “No one should be killed or suffer a life-altering injury just from traveling in our city.”
The trend is an improvement for Portland’s roads, which saw an average of 41 deaths annually in the five years preceding the pandemic. The city has dedicated millions of dollars to address this problem through its “Vision Zero” plan that aims to eliminate traffic deaths.
“Where we’ve been able to invest, we’re seeing success,” Dana Dickman, the policy manager for the Vision Zero project, said on OPB’s “Think Out Loud” earlier this month. “We’re seeing speeds coming down, we’re seeing crashes go down in those places.”
Local transportation leaders have attributed the drop to multiple factors, including greater awareness, increased infrastructure funding, more traffic cameras and an overall change in driving behavior since the pandemic upended people’s lives.
“People in our society need to hear just how critical the crisis was and is, and that they can have an impact on moving forward,” said Zachary Lauritzen, executive director of Oregon Walks, a group that advocates for safe walking infrastructure.
In Monday’s press release, the city touted its efforts to make roads safe, in part by reducing speed limits in high-crash areas and adding more safety cameras. Faced with rising costs and staffing challenges, the city has previously struggled to capitalize on its safety goals along some of its most dangerous roads, drawing scrutiny from auditors.
Rush hour traffic on Interstate 84 in Portland, Ore., July 18, 2025.
Morgan Barnaby / OPB
The news comes as state and local transportation agencies like PBOT remain mired in a funding quandary Oregon lawmakers have been trying to resolve for the past year.
In September, the state’s Democratic supermajority passed a slimmed-down version of a bill that included new taxes and fees to fund Oregon’s roads and the employees who maintain them. The bill did not provide new funding for projects to calm busy streets that advocates called for during the last legislative session.
“We want kids to get to school without dying,” said Sarah Iannarone, executive director of The Street Trust, an advocacy group. “That’s not a radical perspective from our opinion, but it’s being framed that way.”
Opponents say they have submitted the signatures necessary to refer the bill and its associated tax increases to voters. As a result, lawmakers appear primed to take up the bill again during the upcoming short legislative session in February.
As the holiday season gets underway, PBOT is urging travelers to drive the speed limit, avoid distractions like phones, watch out for pedestrians, use headlights and keep a safe distance between vehicles.
