REDMOND, OR — Oregon’s Department of Transportation kicks off a series of public workshops and open house meetings this week in Central Oregon, focused on safety. ODOT’s Transportation Safety Office will host eight meetings around the state over the next six weeks, starting Thursday in Redmond. ODOT’s Mindy McCartt says others are scheduled for southern and eastern Oregon and The Gorge, “These are those rural areas where we haven’t been in very often.”
The agency wants to hear ideas from the public about how to improve safe road user behavior, “It’s the getting the right information in front of the people that need to know, in order to elicit a behavioral change,” says McCartt, “And the only way we know, right now, to influence the public is to get out there and ask them how they want to learn.”
She says existing tools, like tickets and social media campaigns, aren’t enough, “We’ve worked with our legislative partners and our law enforcement partners and increased the fines for distracted driving. Well, that’s still not working; we still have distracted drivers out there. So, now we’re going to be looking at what’s going to get your attention? What’s going to get your attention to re-think is it worth picking up that phone?”
The information will help determine how grant money is spent in each community on a variety of issues, “We’re looking at aging road users, we’re looking at bicycle safety, commercial vehicle safety, commercial traffic safety, distracted driving, drivers education, emergency medical services; impaired driving, intersection safety – when you think about, ‘is it legal to turn right on a red?’ Those kinds of things; U-turns, motorcycle safety, seatbelt awareness, child protective seats, pedestrian, Safe Routes to School, work zones.”
Thursday’s all-day workshop in Redmond requires an RSVP via email or by calling 541-508-9690. The open house starts at 5 p.m., at Redmond City Hall. Later stops include The Dalles, Roseburg, North Bend and Island City.
