Redland Road, Oregon Safety Corridor
Although this class is on urban transportation, the topic of road safety is just as important in rural areas as well. I currently live on a small farm just outside of Oregon City about 30 minutes away from downtown Portland. Our farm is located off of Redland Road, which is an Oregon Safety Corridor. Oregon Safety Corridors are roads with high rates of serious and fatal injury crashes. The purpose of the designation is to “reduce these crashes in the short-term through the use of partnerships with engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency service. Each component contributes to the mutual goal of reducing serious injury crashes by encouraging drivers to change poor behaviors within safety corridors and drive safely.” (ODOT, 2017)
To describe the road, it is two lanes, very winding, and 50 MPH, which is a generous speed for how many curves are on the road (and drivers typically go over this speed). There are many driveways and turn-offs on this road. There is also an elementary school about 7 miles in from Highway 213. There are hardly any streetlights along Redland so when it is dark drivers have to drive with their brights on. There are bike lanes on the road but it is very rare to actually see people biking (there is no way I would ever bike on this road).
Since living here, I have seen many car crashes. These crashes usually involve cars flipping over, or crashing into electric poles, and are often fatal. Although this class is on urban transportation, I wanted to cover this because it is close to my home and I think safety on rural roads is often overlooked. According to the Federal Highway Administration, “In 2012, 19 percent of the US population lived in rural areas but rural road fatalities accounted for 54 percent of all fatalities. Even with reductions in the number of fatalities on the roadways, fatality rate in rural areas is 2.4 times higher than the fatality rate in urban areas.” (FHWA, 2018)
Recently, there was a neighborhood association meeting to discuss Redland Road safety. At this meeting there was brainstorming of ideas and policies to implement. One topic discussed was how to implement greater driver speed awareness. Since this meeting, there has been a new speed sign added with a digital readout that shows oncoming drivers their speed as measured by radar detection. This first new digital sign is located near the elementary school. The plan is to implement more of these on Redland Road. I hope they choose to put these near the sharp curves where accidents typically occur.
In addition to the new digital speed signs, I hope to see other new policies and plans for the future of safety on Redland Road. I hope the topic of walkability near the road is something that is discussed. Less than a mile from my home there is a corner store and a small restaurant but it is too dangerous for any mode of transportation except by car. One interesting thing that is seen in Clackamas County, and not seen in Portland and Multnomah County, is after a car accident how long wrecked cars stay on the road. In Clackamas County it is not uncommon for wrecked cars to stay on the side of the road for weeks, sometimes months. While this may be an eyesore, it may possibly act as disincentive to scare drivers into driving safer on the road because they can see what may happen by driving unsafe. I am curious if there is any study on this effect on Redland Road.
Map of Redland Road from Highway 213 to Henrici Road showing location of Redland Elementary School.
Works Cited
Oregon Safety Corridor Program Guidelines. ODOT Transportation Safety Division, Jan. 2017, www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Safety/Documents/SafetyCorridorGuidelines.pdf.
“Local and Rural Road Safety Program.” Safety, Federal Highway Administration, http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/#policy.
Edited by Justin Sherrill
To describe the road, it is two lanes, very winding, and 50 MPH, which is a generous speed for how many curves are on the road (and drivers typically go over this speed). There are many driveways and turn-offs on this road. There is also an elementary school about 7 miles in from Highway 213. There are hardly any streetlights along Redland so when it is dark drivers have to drive with their brights on. There are bike lanes on the road but it is very rare to actually see people biking (there is no way I would ever bike on this road).
Since living here, I have seen many car crashes. These crashes usually involve cars flipping over, or crashing into electric poles, and are often fatal. Although this class is on urban transportation, I wanted to cover this because it is close to my home and I think safety on rural roads is often overlooked. According to the Federal Highway Administration, “In 2012, 19 percent of the US population lived in rural areas but rural road fatalities accounted for 54 percent of all fatalities. Even with reductions in the number of fatalities on the roadways, fatality rate in rural areas is 2.4 times higher than the fatality rate in urban areas.” (FHWA, 2018)
Recently, there was a neighborhood association meeting to discuss Redland Road safety. At this meeting there was brainstorming of ideas and policies to implement. One topic discussed was how to implement greater driver speed awareness. Since this meeting, there has been a new speed sign added with a digital readout that shows oncoming drivers their speed as measured by radar detection. This first new digital sign is located near the elementary school. The plan is to implement more of these on Redland Road. I hope they choose to put these near the sharp curves where accidents typically occur.
In addition to the new digital speed signs, I hope to see other new policies and plans for the future of safety on Redland Road. I hope the topic of walkability near the road is something that is discussed. Less than a mile from my home there is a corner store and a small restaurant but it is too dangerous for any mode of transportation except by car. One interesting thing that is seen in Clackamas County, and not seen in Portland and Multnomah County, is after a car accident how long wrecked cars stay on the road. In Clackamas County it is not uncommon for wrecked cars to stay on the side of the road for weeks, sometimes months. While this may be an eyesore, it may possibly act as disincentive to scare drivers into driving safer on the road because they can see what may happen by driving unsafe. I am curious if there is any study on this effect on Redland Road.
Works Cited
Oregon Safety Corridor Program Guidelines. ODOT Transportation Safety Division, Jan. 2017, www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Safety/Documents/SafetyCorridorGuidelines.pdf.
“Local and Rural Road Safety Program.” Safety, Federal Highway Administration, http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/#policy.
Edited by Justin Sherrill
Thank you for bringing up this topic. Due to the larger concentrations of people in urban spaces, policy is usually focused on those areas. That being said, there are many high fatality roadways located in rural communities. Anecdotally people love to "cruise" on those rural roads and most don't follow the speed limit. I grew up near Corbett, Oregon and often saw similar problems.
ReplyDeleteMaking drivers aware of how fast they are driving is a step than can slow people down. But, I am concerned that this isn't enough. The speeds should probably be reduced and enforced. With a digital sign that's already measuring speed with radar, following that with a camera that will capture a diver's image and send a ticket to those who are speeding could be a reasonable way to enforce a reduced speed limit. While cruising down rural roads can be fun, it's not worth a life. As transportation professionals, we need to make sure that rural communities are getting the same attention as urban communities in order to reduce traffic fatalities everywhere.
-- Lisa Wheeler