QuickTake:

In the county, 1,045 vehicle crashes involved a fatality or serious injury from 2018 to 2022. The county’s transportation safety action plan has the goal of whittling highway fatalities down to zero. 

Lane County has a new road map for ways to prevent vehicle crashes that cause deaths and serious injuries.

County commissioners unanimously approved an updated transportation safety action plan Tuesday. The plan, which builds on one approved in 2017, has the goal of driving down crashes with fatalities to zero by 2045. It’s part of a nationwide push: Toward Zero Deaths. 

In Lane County, 1,045 crashes from 2018 to 2022 involved a fatality, serious injury or both. On a per capita level, that’s a higher rate than Portland-area counties.

Yet the plan’s passage, and its aspirations, require funding and resources that the county lacks — such as more deputies for speed traps and other traffic enforcement, road improvements and safety updates. The new plan, though, gives officials a framework to use when prioritizing projects and pursuing grants and other funding to improve the county’s highway system. 

“These crashes have devastating impacts on families and communities,” Becky Taylor, the county’s senior transportation planner, told commissioners. “Without intervention, Lane County will continue to experience preventable loss of life on our roads.”

Reasons for crashes include aging infrastructure, driving while impaired, and speeding, the plan said. The county’s plan notes that people in rural areas face higher risks of being in a serious crash compared to those living the Eugene-Springfield metro area. Rural residents also face related challenges, such as longer commute times and fewer transportation options.

The plan acknowledges a need for more resources to enforce traffic laws and recommends smaller roadway improvements, while pursuing community input and additional funding for larger projects.

Measures include guardrails, rumble strips, curve warning signs, high-visibility and reflective signage to aid driving at night or in dark, inclement weather. 

The plan prioritizes road locations with the highest need for engineering and improvements. 

Road improvements are just part of the solution; the county’s plan also calls for education to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and law enforcement actions to improve safety. 

The plan notes that success depends on more funding for the county’s drug and alcohol prevention education program, traffic patrol for the sheriff’s office, and funding and guidance for the county’s public works staffers to put safety features onto county-maintained roads. 

Commissioners praised the plan and noted that challenges remain.

Commissioner Laurie Trieger said it’s important to work collaboratively and across different jurisdictions that maintain roads.

Commission Chair David Loveall said the county will have to make challenging decisions about how to prioritize the issue with limited funding.

“Priorities may have to shift from something else to this,” he said.

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.