Should you’ve learn BikePortland for some time, you realize that we’re critical about language and phrase alternative. Method again in 2006 we have been one of many first shops to cowl the concept that the way in which we speak about visitors crashes in America is deeply problematic. Since then, the “crash not accident” motion has grown significantly.
The newest step ahead on the march towards making “crash” mainstream is a invoice within the Oregon Legislature that seeks to rewrite over 100 present legal guidelines. Home Invoice 3374 would change all references to “automobile accident” and “automobile collision” within the Oregon Revised Statutes and two sections of Oregon Administrative Guidelines with “automobile crash.”
Associated: Crashes are nonetheless ‘accidents’ on the Oregon DMV
The invoice is sponsored by Home Consultant Jeff Helfrich, a Republican who represents the district (52) that covers Hood River, east Multnomah County, Sandy, and Authorities Camp. Rep. Helfrich lives in Hood River and is a 25-year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau.
Helfrich’s Chief of Employees Natalie Newgard stated the invoice was launched on behalf of former Home Rep. Ron Noble. Noble is a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on DUII and this invoice is one in all their priorities.
The invoice hasn’t been assigned to a committee but and remains to be awaiting a public listening to. It ought to have broad assist amongst transportation security advocates, a lot of whom consider that utilizing the time period “accident” implies a collision was unavoidable.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Protected Routes to Faculty program wrote in an electronic mail e-newsletter in the present day that utilizing the time period “accident” doesn’t align with their purpose of constructing streets secure. “After we use the phrase ‘accident’ reasonably than ‘crash,’ we’re implying {that a} collision was someway inevitable. We’re not solely absolving the individual driving from duty but in addition the native transportation company,” they wrote within the e-newsletter. “PBOT has strategic commitments to appreciate Imaginative and prescient Zero … a part of [that] technique is reminding ourselves and our communities that crashes are preventable and predictable.”
We’ll monitor the invoice and maintain you posted on any developments.
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