ODOT preparing to release new highway safety program for 2022

(Update: adding video and information)

There was an average of 61 fatal crashes a year between 2015 and 2019 in ODOT's Region 4

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Oregon Transportation Safety Committee will meet next week to discuss its proposed highway safety plan for next year.

In the proposed safety program , the Oregon Department of Transportation would look to "assist partner agencies with low-cost engineering, education, and enforcement initiatives to improve safety at those locations."

“We have found that most crashes happen as a consequence as driving behavior," Peter Murphy told NewsChannel 21 Thursday.  “It’s a challenge to get folks to understand the causes of crashes.”

In Region 4, which covers Central Oregon and counties to the north and south, there were an average of 61 fatalities a year due to vehicle crashes between 2015 and 2019. It's a number ODOT wants to reduce to 51 by Dec. 31, 2025.

“There are three methods that I’m aware of to control what happens on a highway environment," Murphy said. "One is engineering, how you design the highway, the other is enforcement where our partners can drop the hammer and education which is what I do.”

In 2019, there were 28 fatal crashes in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties. Twenty-one of those deaths happened in Deschutes County. There were also more than 1,000 injury crashes in those three counties.

“One of the things we will do proactively going forward is asking some of our partner agencies to step up enforcement between Madras and Redmond," Murphy told NewsChannel 21. "There’s a corridor there that carries a lot of traffic.”