OHA’s new transportation data dashboard finds motorcycle, cyclist, pedestrian fatalities on the rise

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon Health Authority has unveiled another interactive data dashboard to help people more easily track state, county and demographic trends in deaths and hospital visits related to a range of transportation-related injuries.

The Oregon Transportation Safety Dashboard, developed by the Injury and Violence Prevention Program at the OHA Public Health Division,  improves access to the data among the public, state and local agencies, and community organizations that work to reduce incidence of transportation-related injuries and deaths. 

“These dashboards make it easy for people to view injury and fatality data,” said Dagan Wright, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., senior injury epidemiologist and informaticist at the Public Health Division. “The transportation dashboard will help people understand transportation-related injury trends over time, characteristics of who is getting injured and by what types of transportation.”

The dashboard includes mortality, emergency department discharge and hospital discharge data in nine transportation categories, such as motorcycle, motor vehicle occupant, pedal cyclist and pedestrian. Data are aggregated for annual statewide trends, as well as a four-year average for county-level and demographic trends. 

The new dashboard affirms trends that have made headlines in recent months:

• Overall, fatalities for transportation are increasing, specifically for motorcycles, pedal cyclists and pedestrians. 
• An increased focus on emerging transportation modes that cause injury is necessary in order to get a full picture of changing trends. The dashboard includes a “pedestrian-involving wheeled device” category to capture popular new transportation modes like e-scooters. 

“What we have seen in both non-fatal transportation injuries and deaths needs attention from our communities, especially for more vulnerable users,” Wright said. “Data dashboards like these help us monitor trends and better anticipate where to direct resources so we can reduce the burden of these injuries on individuals, communities and agencies.”