Beaverton, Oregon, stands out for its vibrant community and suburban charm, but it faces significant challenges regarding road safety. Recent data on traffic accidents in the city reveals patterns that align with broader statewide issues, including speeding, impaired driving, and other hazardous behaviors.
This article provides a comprehensive look at the current traffic safety landscape in Beaverton, offering valuable insights into prevailing trends and areas that need attention. Understanding these patterns is crucial for addressing the safety concerns impacting Beaverton’s residents and working towards improving road safety in the city.
In 2021, out of 1,531 total accidents, 147 involved collisions with fixed objects, resulting in 59 injuries. While the majority of accidents (1,100) were related to vehicle movement, the number of fixed object collisions is notably high. One fatality resulted from such a collision, and another involved a pedestrian, which also led to the driver’s death.
DID YOU KNOW: Rear-end collisions caused 381 injuries out of 616 incidents.
Secondary highways and city streets were the sites of the most injuries, with a total of 445 injured across these road types. Injuries totaled 1,240, with 588 men and 678 women affected. Notably, 24 out of 33 injured pedestrians and 11 out of 16 injured cyclists were men.
A significant number of injuries—174 out of 289—occurred due to collisions with vehicles parked on the side of the road, whether properly marked with emergency lights or poorly parked. Additionally, 48 people were injured in 118 of 184 accidents involving fixed objects.
It may seem surprising that statistics show high levels of fixed objects as causes of accidents, but a look at 2024 reveals that the frequency of fatalities can be explained by specific and curious factors.
On July 25, it was reported that a Jeep lost control, went off the road, struck a tree, and came to rest upside down, leaving a 17 year old teenager dead on the scene. On a Saturday night in June, a vehicle crashed into a house on the 2750 block of SW 178th Ave. in Beaverton, clearly demonstrating that you can be involved in a traffic accident even within your own property. And in the month before that, a truck collided with a construction trailer and subsequently overturned near the junction of Southwest Scholls Ferry Road and Southwest Murray Boulevard.
For pedestrians, 24 out of 34 accidents happened while they were crossing at designated crosswalks, making these incidents easier to prove for liability. Five pedestrians were injured while not on the roadway. Among the injured, 46 were under 9 years old. Teenagers aged 18 are the most frequent contributors to accidents, with their numbers surpassing those of any other age group, although 22, 23, and 24-year-olds are close behind when combined.
Even under favorable conditions, such as a quiet Sunday afternoon, pedestrian accidents can still occur. For instance, one was reported at the intersection of Southwest 185th Avenue and Southwest Blanton Street in Aloha in late August 2024.
Motorized scooters, a vehicle typical of our era, also appear in fatal statistics for 2024. One such incident occurred when a scooter rider died in a collision with a vehicle near the area of West Baseline Road. The drivers of the vehicle were not injured, but unfortunately, the scooter rider could not be saved at the scene.
Traffic statistics provided by Transportation Data Section Crash Analysis and Reporting Unit of OSDT.