PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- As 2024 has seen double the number of traffic deaths in the same time period a year ago, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is trying a new strategy to improve safety.
"We absolutely consider every one of these fatalities on our streets to be heartbreaking," said PBOT's Hannah Schafer.
Microwave sensors that are already used to detect where vehicles are on certain Portland streets are used to keep traffic flowing by stringing together green lights. But they can also be used for safety measures, too.
"If folks are coming up to an intersection and they're going pretty fast, it's going to sense that speed and turn the light red before they have a chance to gain additional speed and come through," said Schafer.
The program is called "Rest on Red," because the sensors will make sure intersections rest on red lights until they detect a stopped car. The first street to pilot the program will be Powell Boulevard.
These sensors would go in at the signals between 21st and 33rd Street, an area that's seen a number of crashes in recent years along the Cleveland High School campus. PBOT is also looking at having some lights red all night to force drivers to stop, eventually turning green when it senses a vehicle waiting.
"We are not the first city to be doing this. And we're watching how other cities are using this technology and learning from them at the same time," Schafer said.
One of the cities they're looking to is Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the technology has now been in place for nearly a year, and officials there say it's been a success.
"We've pretty much completely eliminated all of those speeders that are going far above the speed limit," said Dan Mayfield from the Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development.
KOIN 6 also spoke with one man who says he's been hit by a car along the stretch of Powell that will be used for the pilot program and hopes this will boost safety.
"There's a lot of people in the neighborhood that support the little stores around here and they do a lot of walking so I think that it's important," said Remington Covert.
It's unclear just how soon we can see these changes go into effect along Powell, but PBOT says the ultimate goal is to place similar sensors at lights all across Portland.
