Why It Matters

Every day, more than 100 lives are lost on U.S. roads, and thousands more are left with life-changing, debilitating, injuries. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that motor vehicle crashes killed 44,762 people in the United States in 2023, an average of 123 people killed every day. Beyond these tragedies, approximately 5.1 million Americans sustained injuries severe enough to require medical treatment, ranging from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries to amputations, chronic pain, sensory loss, and long-term disability, of disrupting or ending their active work life and ability to live independently. The United States has vast resource and wealth, yet has far worse traffic safety outcomes than its peer nations. This reveals a deep and systemic failure to protect road users.

These national trends are mirrored in the city of Portland where well over 540 people have lost their lives and countless more have suffered debilitating or life-altering injury since January 1, 2016. The scope of this loss of life is unimaginable in and of itself; however, a true accounting of the cost of road violence must include the life-sentences of grief inflicted on the victim's family, friends, and community as well as the lost contributions the victim would have made in their life.

Crashes are preventable. They are not unavoidable "accidents." The systemic issues that cause road fatalities have proven solutions. No death or life altering injury in a traffic crash is acceptable.