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A Vision Zero report reviewed by the Eugene City Council on Wednesday comes amid community concern about safer streets.
The number of traffic fatalities in Eugene fell last year for the first time since 2020.
Preliminary state data reviewed by the Eugene City Council on Wednesday shows that the number of deaths from traffic crashes within city limits dropped to 10 in 2025. The decline follows three consecutive years of steady and rising traffic fatalities in Eugene, mirroring similar post-pandemic increases across the country.
There were 14 fatal crashes recorded in both 2022 and 2023, and 22 fatal crashes in 2024, according to the data, which staff compiled in a 16-page report. Even with last year’s drop, traffic fatalities in Eugene in 2025 remained above prepandemic levels.
The report comes amid community outcry for safer streets triggered by high-profile traffic fatalities, including a pedestrian on a morning run down Amazon Parkway, a University of Oregon student cycling through a Hilyard Street crosswalk, and vulnerable people traversing Highway 99, a four-lane crash hotspot lined by homeless shelters and social-service agencies.
“Ten community members losing their lives in 2025 was still entirely too many, and the city remains committed to the goal of pursuing zero,” transportation planner Logan Telles told city councilors.
The report served as an update to Eugene’s Vision Zero initiative, a goal to eliminate deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic crashes adopted by the council in November 2015. The data excludes incidents ruled suicides or homicides, incidents on private property and incidents where the sole fatality was a driver experiencing a major medical emergency before the crash.
Breaking down the numbers
Location: A list in the report outlines the 10 fatal crashes recorded in 2025. The first was in the early morning of Jan. 2; the last on the afternoon of Oct. 2.
The most common locations were West 11th Avenue, the site of two fatal crashes, and Highway 99, the location of three.
Mode of transportation: Among the 10 fatal crash victims in 2025, four were motorists (three motorcyclists, one riding in a car or truck), five were pedestrians, and one was a bicyclist.
In total, 60% of fatal crash victims in 2025 were pedestrians and bicyclists, despite only about 11% of Eugene residents using those modes of transportation, per 2024 census data.
The number of fatal crashes involving motorcycles was the only metric that remained steady or rose in 2025. There were three fatal motorcycle-involved crashes in both 2024 and 2025, marking a 50% hike from the three-year average between 2022 and 2024.
Age: The victims ranged from 21 to 79 years old, with an average age of 45.
Gender: About 70% of the victims in 2025 were identified as male by police and medical examiners.
Impairment: At least 60% of all fatal crashes in Eugene in 2025 involved drugs and/or alcohol. All five crashes resulting in pedestrian deaths in 2025 involved drugs or alcohol, according to the data, though it does not indicate which party in the crash was impaired.
Speed: In 2025, 70% of fatal crashes occurred on streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or greater. Four of the 10 fatal crashes last year happened on streets with speed limits at or above 40 miles per hour.
Street design: All 10 traffic fatalities occurred on arterial roads: city, county and state-owned streets with higher speed limits, more travel lanes and wider curb-to-curb distances. Arterials make up about one-fifth of Eugene’s street network, according to the report. Half the fatal crashes in 2025 occurred on straight roadways.
Time of day: Four of the 10 fatal crashes in 2025 happened during “nighttime conditions.” The victims of those crashes were pedestrians.
What Eugene is doing about it
City transportation staff on Wednesday shared a number of updates on its work to make Eugene’s streets safer and reach the Vision Zero goal.
New staff: The city’s Public Works Department has hired traffic engineer Christina Charvat to lead a new traffic engineering section focused on transportation safety and will soon add a civil engineer.
Enforcement: Traffic safety enforcement is a “huge area of focus” for the Eugene Police Department’s patrol division this year, Telles said. Officers will receive training on this enforcement from police department’s Traffic Safety Unit, per the report. Eugene police have conducted an “enforcement campaign” on the high-crash corridor of River Road and plan to heighten enforcement along that arterial and Highway 99 throughout the year.
The department has also added “improved radar technology” to police vehicles to better enforce speed limits, according to the report. “Pedestrian safety operations” are also in the planning stages, set to begin on Hilyard and Patterson streets, the report states.
Red light cameras: Eugene police, the city’s public works department and the municipal court are coordinating the launch of a red-light camera pilot program at up to three intersections, which the report refers to as “red light and speed photo enforcement.” Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner first mentioned the pilot at a Police Commission meeting in June.
The report states that the city has not yet secured funding or staffing for the program, which will need to happen before Eugene selects a vendor and launches the pilot.
Slowing cars down: Public Works engineering staff are using anonymized connected vehicle and cellphone data to map the streets where vehicles are most likely to speed, beginning by comparing typical and high driving speeds to posted limits. The city will use the data to identify “priority corners” for speed reduction using targeted enforcement, traffic calming measures and speed limit changes.
Meanwhile, five corridors in Eugene are awaiting Oregon Department of Transportation speed zone investigations to lower speed limits. They are:
- Highway 99/Sixth Avenue (from Jessen Drive to Garfield Street)
- Jefferson Street (from First Avenue to 13th Avenue)
- Washington Street (from First Avenue to 13th Avenue)
- Goodpasture Island Road (from Norkenzie Road to Valley River Drive)
- Green Acres Road (from Delta Highway to Norkenzie Road)
Traffic calming: Public Works engineering staff decides when and where to install traffic calming measures — speed humps, cushions, raised crossings, curb extensions, roundabouts and chicanes — based on speed, volume and crash data, per the report.
The city pays for these projects largely through $100,000 in local annual funding, as well as some grants and 2022 transportation bond funds.
Capital safety projects: The report includes funded upcoming projects to increase the safety of high-crash corridors including Highway 99, River Road, 18th Avenue, Division Avenue, Franklin Boulevard, and Garfield and Franklin streets.
Planning and safety studies: Three traffic studies were listed in the report. They include:
- A city and Lane Transit District study of River Road and Highway 99 corridors focused on bus infrastructure, non-car transportation safety, and broader corridor safety improvements like medians, roundabouts and lighting. Data collection and technical analysis will begin this spring.
- A Vision Zero study analyzing safety conditions, including red-light running, crosswalk activity and speeding, at 10 high-crash intersections. A hired consultant has made preliminary recommendations based on the data collected; the next step is choosing locations to further evaluate and developing “planning-level design concepts.”
- First and Last Mile Safety Study to identify safety barriers that affect access to LTD transit stops and select school bus stops.
