A safety- based perspective

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On Friday, October 19th, PSU was honored to host Marilyn Johnson, a transportation researcher out of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She shared the successes and failures of an ongoing shift in transportation culture in Australia.  Using data-driven models to focus transportation policy on safety and fatal accident reduction specifically for cyclists, she discussed the strategy used by the Amy Gillett Foundation to engage the community and stakeholders across multiple disciplines.
 These goals are mirrored here in the US with many large cities integrating a similar, data-driven perspective to reduce fatalities to zero, called Vision Zero. While cities such as New York and San Francisco have integrated strategies, which have reduced traffic-related deaths, Portland hasn’t had such luck with an increase of fatalities since the Vision Zero initiative was introduced in Portland in 2016 (Redden, 2018).  What is different about Portland and how can Johnson offer a perspective that may be helpful to Portland?
 Firstly, Portland does have some issues unique to the city.  Our population is increasing at a much more rapid rate than was historically planned for, and there is a lack of infrastructure and funding to support population growth. Portland has the fifth least freeway miles per capita than all other U.S Metro areas (Schmitt, 2012). Two cities with lower freeway miles per capital are Chicago and NYC both much larger metro areas with significantly higher transit ridership per capita (Fischer-Baum, 2014). This means traffic is often diverted onto the city’s main arterials, where pedestrian traffic related accidents (the most common accidents resulting in fatality) or more likely to take place. While a 10 cent per gallon gas tax introduced in 2016 along with City Council’s approval of the Vision Zero initiative, there hasn’t seemed to be enough time for that money to be allocated in a way that has reduced fatalities (Redden, 2018).  But that’s not to say we can’t take those unique issues into account as we attend to decrease fatalities.  As a transportation professional myself, I noticed one thing about Johnson’s talk that I felt we were lacking here in Portland. Communication. There has long been a culture of disconnect between transportation professionals and other stakeholders in the City. For Vision Zero to work there must be a common discourse across multiple disciplines (Vision Zero Network, 2016). Transportation professionals must have access to police and ER data to assess areas in need of improvement (Loewenherz, 2018). The city also needs time for analyzing data, and implementing projects to address those findings. On top of that, there must be a culture shift to prioritize safety over efficiency.
 What Marilyn Johnson did in Melbourne was bring all these groups together and made suggestions on how to put safety on the forefront.  But most importantly many stakeholders changed their practices in accordance to her recommendations.  If we could harbor this kind of culture shift here in Portland, it’s possible we could stand a chance to reduce fatalities on our roads.

-Lisa Wheeler
Edited by: Gabrielle Cooper
Fischer-Baum, Reuben. “How Your City's Public Transit Stacks Up.” FiveThirtyEight, FiveThirtyEight, 28 Sept. 2017, fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-your-citys-public-transit-stacks-up/.
Loewenherz, Franz. “Understanding Surrogate Safety Measures.” ITE Talks Transportation, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 24 July 2018, www.ite.org.
“Portland State University.” Friday Transportation Seminar: Cycling Research and Practice in Australia: Insights from a Hybrid Approach | Transportation Research and Education Center, 12 Oct. 2018, trec.pdx.edu/events/professional-development/friday-transportation-seminar-cycling-research-and-practice-insights.
Redden, Jim. “PBOT: Traffic Deaths up, despite Vision Zero Efforts.” Https://Joomlakave.com, 28 Feb. 2018, portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/388157-278676-pbot-traffic-deaths-up-despite-vision-zero-efforts
Schmitt, Angie. “Cities With the Most Highway Miles: a ‘Who's Who’ of Decay.” Streetsblog USA, 20 Apr. 2012, usa.streetsblog.org/2012/04/20/cities-with-the-most-highway-miles-a-whos-who-of-decay/.
“Vision Zero Guide for Portland.” Vision Zero Programs and Projects RSS, 23 Aug. 2018, www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/596950.

Vision Zero Network. “Collaborating across Departments to Achieve Vision Zero.” Vision Zero Network, 3 May 2016, visionzeronetwork.org/collaborating-across-departments-to-achieve-vision-zero/.

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