News Release: As students return to class, PBOT reminds drivers to be careful, slow down and look out for kids

Press Release

It's a great time for families to organize a walking school bus, bike bus, or carpool to reduce traffic and carbon pollution in your neighborhood.

(Aug. 27, 2024) As schools across the Portland area welcome more than 61,700 students back to campuses in the coming days, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) reminds people to drive with extra caution and attention, as travel patterns change and young people are traveling on streets and sidewalks to get to school.

As students return to school, you may see traffic in parts of your neighborhood or at hours of the day that you have not seen since last spring. Extra care is needed - not just on streets adjacent to schools - because families going to or from a campus may need to cross a variety of busy streets in the area.

"As the beginning of a new school year approaches, please be on the lookout for students of all ages making their way to schools across the city," PBOT Director Millicent Williams said. "PBOT's Safe Routes to Schools program has resources to help families plan their commutes. Whether you choose to walk, bike, take transit or drive, everyone should travel with care, observe speed limits and consider the many ways we can reduce traffic congestion around schools."

Learn more about what you can do at the PBOT Safe Routes to Schoolwebsite.

Traffic congestion and frustrated drivers often contribute to safety issues around school campuses. If your child is not old enough to walk or bike on their own, look for opportunities to walk or bike with them to school. Parents and caregivers who need to drive should consider dropping their studentsoff a few blocks from school. Or, try a park-and-walk:Park your car a block or two away from the campus and enjoy a short stroll with your child.

Reducing traffic near school campusesmakes it safer for everyone.

People driving should exercise caution, regardless of whether they're near a school or not. There are more than 120 elementary, middle, and high schools in Portland. People moving about the city, on average, pass a school, or a route commonly used by schoolchildren, every half-mile. Also, traffic crashes are most common between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., a time when students are being let out from school and after-school programming for the day.  

To help keep students safe, PBOT advises people driving to always: 

• Travel at or below the speed limit - 20 mph or less in school zones. 
• Drive sober and never impaired.
• Slow down and exercise caution when kids are walking, biking, or rolling.  
• Stop for school buses, never try to pass them. 
• Pay attention for students around public transit stops. Students, especially middle and high schoolers, ride TriMet across the city. 
• Watch for crossing guards and others helping students cross the street. Never pass another vehicle that's stopped at a crosswalk. Every intersection is a crosswalk under Oregon law. 

Speeding is a top contributing factor to traffic deaths.  Speed was reported to play a role in at least 42% of deadly crashes between 2017 and 2021 in Portland. In five years, 471 people died or suffered life-altering injuries due to speed. As people travel faster, the risk of death or serious injury rises dramatically. A pedestrian struck by a person driving 40 mph is eight times more likely to die than a pedestrian struck at 20 mph. No person should die or be incapacitated in the everyday act of moving about. But each year dozens of Portlanders lose their lives doing just that.

PBOT is working to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on our streets through Vision Zero. To achieve the vision, PBOT isinvesting in our highest-crash streets and intersections, protecting pedestrians through infrastructure changes, reducing speeds citywide, and working with the Portland Police Bureau's TrafficDivision to enforcelaws against dangerous driving.

In 2016, 2020, and 2024, Portland voters approved and renewed Fixing Our Streets, a 10-cent gas tax that funds traffic safety and maintenance projects throughout the city. Fixing Our Streets has funded over 300 such projects with another 60 in development, design, or construction.

To prioritize how that money is invested, PBOT's Safe Routes to School team talked with families and students about the barriers they faced getting to school safely. Repeatedly, parents said speeding drivers, unsafe crossings, and incomplete sidewalks were the top reasons they were reluctant to have their child walk, bike, or roll to school.  

These investments are improving how Portland families access schools. PBOT crews and contractors have installed high-visibility crosswalks, built speed bumps, and constructed new curb ramps to meet Americans with Disabilities (ADA) standards, among numerous other safety improvements. 

Recently and soon-to-be completed projects near schools include:

• 4M Neighborhood Greenway: SE 130th Avenue to SE 174th Avenue- New opportunities for people to walk, bike, and roll on streets running parallel to the high-traffic SE Stark and SE Division corridors with project elements including bike lanes and pavement markings, street lighting, wayfinding signs, speed bumps, sidewalk infill, and tree planting improving access to: Alder, Patrick Lynch, Parklane, and Lincoln Park elementary schools; Oliver Middle School; and David Douglas High School in the Hazelwood and Centennial neighborhoods.
• SW 35th Avenue Sidewalk Infill and Crossing- New sidewalk, ADA-compliant curb ramps, median islands, and marked crosswalk at Jackson Middle School in the West Portland Park neighborhood.
• Upper St. Johns & N Burr Neighborhood Greenways: N Charleston Ave- New crossing improvements, speed bumps, and wayfinding signage and shared-lane markings providing connections to George Middle and James John Elementary schools in the St. Johns neighborhood.
• Brentwood-Darlington Multimodal Improvements- New sidewalks, crosswalks, neighborhood greenway, and signalized crossing improving neighborhood access to several local schools, including: Woodmere Elementary, Whitman Elementary, Lane Middle schools in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood.
• SE 174th Avenue Sidewalk Infill (Main to Stark streets)- New sidewalks, curb ramps, marked crosswalks, street trees, and planting strips between Stark and Main streets near Alder Elementary School in the Centennial neighborhood.
• NE Shaver Sidewalk: NE 115th to Parkrose Middle School- News sidewalks, new ADA-compliant curb ramps in the Parkrose neighborhood.
• NE Glisan Street and 80th Avenue Crossing Improvements-Pedestrian safety improvements including ADA-compliant curb ramps, mark crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, and street lighting improvement near Vestal Elementary School in the Montavilla neighborhood.
• N Charleston Avenue mural- Longest street painting (850 feet) in Portland connects James John Elementary School to neighborhood amenities in the St Johns neighborhood.

What you can do now: Be a leader in your community and connect with families to organize groups to walk, bike, or roll to school together  .

PBOT's Safe Routes to School programencourages families to build rewarding, healthy, climate-friendly habits by choosing to walk, bike, or roll to school. PBOT encourages parents and caregivers to organize a walking school bus or bike bus, where families walk or bike a route together and "pick up" passengers on their way to school.

Travelling together gives families the opportunity to spend fulfilling time together and make connections with their school community. Morning activity increases brain activity, so walking or rolling to school helps students arrive at school energized and ready to learn.

Opting to walk, bike, or roll helps reduce the harmful chemicals, gases, and particle pollution around schools and promotes clean air. Getting in a healthy routine now will have students primed for International Walk + Roll to School Day on Wednesday, Oct. 9.  

Parents who typically drive their child to school can avoid the school traffic jam by parking a couple blocks away from school and then walking or rolling into class from there. It's a win-win, parents will save a bit of money on gas and students get the benefit of some light exercise before class begins. 

PBOT also encourages families and students to practice their route in advance to pick the safest way to school. Visit the Safe Routes to School Back to Schoolwebpage for resources for families and students to plan their trips.