Putting the "zero" in Vision Zero

This is pretty pitiful. The people responsible for traffic safety in Portland held a press conference today to wallow in their failure, and tell you it's all your fault. As if their standing in front of cameras and saying "Slow down and don't drive drunk" were actually doing something.

The new head of the City Hall car-hater bureau was in charge of the proceedings, informing us all how "[t]oday, my first news conference as your director is a solemn occasion.... As your transportation director, I want you to know that I am firmly committed to Vision Zero. I will provide the leadership and collaboration we need to make our streets safer for everyone.” Sure.

The only thing that would make a difference at this point is strict and visible enforcement of traffic laws for a sustained period of time – measured in years, not days. But that would require a new police chief, a new district attorney, and probably some new judges, none of which seem to be in the offing.

Oh, and did you know that the Portland cops' traffic division is back up to two-thirds strength?

“A couple years ago because of staffing issues, the traffic division was cut. And for two years, I was the only traffic member full time. And so, recently, we’ve got our staffing enough to where we brought back about two-thirds of our traffic division,” [Sergeant Ty] Engstrom said.

According to Engstrom, the traffic division has coverage seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. when there is a majority of DUI and street racing incidents. He noted that some officers have worked overtime to process DUI drivers and hold them accountable.

Given the epidemic of death-wish motoring in Portland at the moment, you're going to need three times as many cops as are out there now, in effect doubling what was there before the officers quiet-quit, to reverse the deadly change in culture that's been allowed to happen. 

And when they give out tickets, it would be nice if the prosecutors and judges imposed heavy penalties until the craziness subsides. One of the goals of the criminal justice system is to make an example out of the offender. If you want to stop the traffic fatalities, it's time to dust that principle off and use it.

Of course, no government meeting would be complete without an interlude about race and our precious "houseless" population. The jesters from the county were there to emphasize that angle.

“When we look at this from a public health perspective, it’s alarming for three reasons. First… it’s a leading cause of death. Second, the trend is going up,” Multnomah County Public Health Manager Brendon Haggerty said. “The third reason this is especially alarming for public health is that we see racial disparities.”

He added, “in Multnomah County, the death rate from traffic crashes among the Black population is about twice the rate of the non-Hispanic, white population.”...

Additionally, the department found in that two-year period, people experiencing houselessness are more likely to be killed in a traffic crash.

I'm not entirely clear on what the relevance of those stats may be, but every cop in that traffic division knows that a tally is being kept of the races of the people they pull over. Nowadays, they may need to let someone go, or pull someone over for next to nothing, in order to keep their ratio right. It's not good policing, but it's the price we pay for the local force's history of blatant racism. When the cops can't be trusted, the reaction usually ends up harming innocent people.

And OMG, look who joined the party: It's none other than Sarah Yada Yada Iannarone!

Apparently she's drawing a paycheck as the head of a nonprofit that makes noise about "safe, accessble, equitable, zero carbon streets." Having her in the mix certainly affects one's confidence level, doesn't it?

Glaringly missing from today's bobblehead festival was the State of Oregon. Apparently there's some sort of deal in place under which the state troopers don't work traffic in Portland, ever. Whatever that deal is, it needs to be terminated, like yesterday. Portland can't be relied on to do Salem's job. We pay most of the taxes in this state, and we need help. Yoo hoo, Lew Frederick! Yoo hoo, Governor Kohoutek!