Portland is one of 4 large US cities without #police #traffic #enforcement https://katu.com/news/katu-investigates/portland-one-of-few-major-american-cities-without-proactive-speed-traffic-enforcement.

On the one hand, keeping police out of enforcement is good. It prevents #DrivingWhileBlack harassment + excessive policing.

On the other hand, #USDOT ranks #Oregon in top 10 #TrafficViolence

In 2021 Oregon had 1.54 traffic deaths for every 100M miles traveled vs nearby WA at 0.94 death/100Mvmt.

#Portland has lots of #EntitledDriver #StreetRacing, but few #speed cameras or safety engineering.

Portland is one of few major American cities without police traffic enforcement

Portland is one of at least four cities among America's 50 largest cities without a team of law enforcement officers dedicated to proactive traffic enforcement

KATU
@CathyTuttle How useful is it to use statewide statistic to assess the effectiveness of traffic enforcement in Portland? And does traffic law enforcement actually correlate with traffic mortality rates?

@fvehafric I don't know what causes 50% more traffic death and serious injury in Oregon v. Washington roads per 100 million miles. Road conditions, construction standards, weather, and geography are similar. Policing might be a factor.

Portland does have about 50% more traffic fatalities than Seattle, but I don't have good stats on serious injuries in the 2 cities. I suspect they are also much higher in Portland than in Seattle.

@CathyTuttle @fvehafric only one of these depts of transportation has ever dynamited a whale