A new report from the City of Eugene indicates the number of traffic fatalities over the past three years more than doubled over the previous three-year period.
The report analyzed traffic data from 2022-2024. In the 50 fatal crashes that occurred over that time, 51 people were killed.
In 2024 alone, 22 people died in traffic crashes, which is the highest number on record for Eugene. This number includes motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
88% of the fatal crashes occurred on large multi-lane roads that carry higher volumes of traffic, like Highway 99, River Road, Franklin Boulevard and Division Avenue. These roads, also known as arterial streets, tend to have higher speed limits.
Driving over the speed limit is a contributing factor to collisions, and is one trend that appears in the report, with 36% of the crashes including a driver speeding. Other trends include drug and alcohol use, with 70% of the fatal crashes occurring while drivers were impaired.
Marion Suitor Barnes, the Public Works Public Affairs Manager for the City of Eugene, described the high-speed multi-lane roads as “high crash corridors,” or places where fatal crashes are more likely to occur.
These corridors are identified by members of the Vision Zero task force. Vision Zero is a resolution adopted by the City of Eugene in 2019, which utilizes a data-driven approach to eliminating transportation related injuries and casualties.
Barnes said Vision Zero is working on gradual redesigns to improve the safety of the streets of Eugene. The corridors are placed on a continuously updating list and changes are made as funding becomes available. “We knock through that list as much as we can,” she said.
Vision Zero has built crosswalks, roundabouts, and reduced lane numbers to decrease the risk on previous high crash corridors in Eugene.
Barnes said Vision Zero will rely most on a partnership with individual drivers and community members to ensure the roads are safe. She encourages those operating vehicles to drive the speed limit and not drive while impaired.
“That will make the biggest impact on those numbers, even above and beyond what we can do from a traffic planning standpoint,” she said.
