Portland car accident guide and data hub

If a crash just wrecked your day somewhere in Portland, you're far from alone. In 2024, 58 people were killed in traffic crashes on Portland streets, down 16 percent from the record 69 deaths in 2023.¹ The count dropped again in 2025 to 39, the lowest yearly total since 2018.² The trend is moving the right way. The baseline still isn't good: Portland averaged 41 traffic deaths a year in the five years before the pandemic, and recent totals run above that.¹

This page gathers the local crash data, the roads where wrecks cluster, and the Oregon rules that decide what happens after a collision. Every figure here is tied to the agency that publishes it.

Where crashes happen in Portland

Portland's deadly crashes cluster on a small number of streets. The city tracks a High Crash Network: 30 streets that carry most of the worst crashes, plus a separate list of 30 high crash intersections. Those 30 streets make up about 8 percent of Portland's streets, but they carried an average of 67 percent of traffic deaths from 2020 through 2024.³ In 2024, 71 percent of the people killed died on that network.¹

The same wide arterials keep coming up. SE 82nd Avenue runs the length of the east side and sits at the center of the problem, along with SE Powell Boulevard, SE Division Street, NE Halsey Street, SE Foster Road, and NE Marine Drive.³ Some of the deadliest intersections PBOT names are E Burnside Street at 82nd Avenue, SE Division Street at 122nd Avenue, and SE Powell Boulevard at 174th Avenue.³ They tend to share the same design: wide lanes, higher speeds, long gaps between signals, and stretches with little lighting.

Where you are in the city matters just as much. Nearly half of Portland's 2024 traffic deaths happened east of I-205.¹ Recent city reports have flagged specific spots out there, including NE 102nd Avenue and NE Halsey Street between roughly 70th and 80th avenues.¹ Since 2017, the city and its partners have spent about $193 million on safety projects along these corridors, with two-thirds of it going to lower-income neighborhoods that carry the highest death rates.³

What's driving the numbers

Two things run through the fatal crashes. Speed is the first. At least 48 percent of the people killed on Portland streets in 2024 died in a crash that involved speeding.¹ Darkness is the second. 83 percent of 2024 traffic deaths happened in dark conditions, meaning dusk, night, or dawn.¹

Who's dying has changed too. Of the 58 people killed in 2024, 22 were pedestrians, about 36 percent of the total, and 23 were people inside motor vehicles.¹ If you walk a Portland arterial after dark, those two numbers explain the risk better than any warning sign.

The statewide picture

The pattern holds across Oregon. The state recorded 539 traffic deaths in 2024, down from 587 in 2023, with preliminary counts putting 2025 at 487.⁴ Close to half of those deaths each year happen on local city and county roads rather than state highways.⁴ ODOT publishes the raw crash files and a fatal-crash map if you want to check a specific route or corridor.⁴

What to do after a crash in Portland

Start with the paperwork most drivers don't know exists. Oregon requires you to file a Traffic Collision and Insurance Report (DMV Form 735-32) within 72 hours if anyone was hurt, if any vehicle was towed from the scene, or if damage to any one vehicle or to property is more than $2,500.⁵ A police report at the scene does not cover this obligation. Skip the filing when it's required and DMV can suspend your license.⁵

Then insurance. Every Oregon auto policy includes Personal Injury Protection of at least $15,000 per person.⁶ PIP pays your reasonable medical bills, and some lost wages, no matter who caused the crash, for treatment within two years of the collision.⁷ Use it early. It's the fastest money available while fault is still being worked out.

Oregon's minimum liability limits are thin: $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 for property damage.⁸ Drivers also have to carry uninsured motorist coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash, which matters because a lot of at-fault drivers turn out to have only the minimum, or nothing at all.⁶

Deadlines and fault rules

Oregon gives you two years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit.⁹ Waiting rarely helps, since evidence fades and the deadline is firm. A separate outer limit blocks most negligence claims filed more than ten years after the act that caused the harm.¹⁰

Fault gets divided under Oregon's comparative negligence rule. You can still recover money even if you were partly at fault, as long as your share is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else involved.¹¹ Cross that line, meaning your fault is more than half, and you get nothing. Stay below it and your award is cut by your percentage of fault.¹¹

Getting help

Plenty of Portland crashes settle without a lawyer, especially minor ones handled through PIP and property-damage coverage. When injuries are serious, when fault is disputed, or when an insurer lowballs you, it's worth talking to someone who handles these cases locally. You can start with the legal directory to find an attorney near you.

Keep your own file from the first day: the DMV report number, photos from the scene, the other driver's insurance details, and every medical bill. It costs nothing, and it's the record your claim will rest on.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "PBOT releases 2024 deadly crash report, with the latest annual figures in traffic safety." https://www.portland.gov/transportation/news/2025/3/6/news-release-pbot-releases-2024-deadly-crash-report-latest-annual

2. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "PBOT Vision Zero March 2026 newsletter." https://www.portland.gov/transportation/vision-zero/news/2026/3/17/pbot-vision-zero-march-2026-newsletter

3. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "High Crash Network streets and intersections." https://www.portland.gov/transportation/vision-zero/high-crash-network-streets-and-intersections

4. Oregon Department of Transportation, "State of the System: Safety." https://www.oregon.gov/odot/state-of-the-system/pages/safety.aspx

5. Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, "Collision Reporting and Responsibilities." https://www.oregon.gov/odot/dmv/pages/driverid/accidentreport.aspx

6. Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, "Insurance Requirements." https://www.oregon.gov/odot/dmv/pages/driverid/insurance.aspx

7. Oregon Revised Statutes 742.524, contents of personal injury protection benefits. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

8. Oregon Revised Statutes 806.070, financial responsibility amounts required. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors806.html

9. Oregon Revised Statutes 12.110, action for injury to person or rights. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

10. Oregon Revised Statutes 12.115, action for negligent injury to person or property. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

11. Oregon Revised Statutes 31.600, contributory negligence not a bar to recovery. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html