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NEWS A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAy, JANuARy 30, 2019 Staff photo by Jade McDowell Attendees at a regional school and childcare nutrition training sample different recipes for lunch at Umatilla High School in 2018. Shutdown may have impact on local meal programs By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File Traffic drives south on Highway 97 near the Cow Canyon Rest Area east of Shaniko on Oct. 20, 2018. Speeding, crashes rising after speed limit change By ANTONIO SIERRA STAFF WRITER Nearly two years after speed limits were increased on highways in central and Eastern Oregon, a state- funded analysis shows that serious wrecks on those roads have gone up at a faster rate than places where the limit was unchanged. Using four years of data on crashes across state highways and automatic traffic recorders to mea- sure speeds, the Oregon Department of Transpor- tation and Portland State University found that fatal crashes went up by 36 per- cent on highways raised to 70 miles per hour and rose 67 percent on roads that were increased to 65 miles per hour. The Oregon Legisla- ture voted to raise the speed limit on Interstate 84 from Ontario to The Dalles, Interstate 82 in Umatilla County, and Highway 95 in southeastern Oregon from 65 miles per hour to 70. Sections of Highway 395, Highway 97, and Highway 20 jumped from 55 to 65. The bill received bipartisan support in both chambers of the Legislature, was signed into law by Gov. Kate Brown and ODOT made the changes in March 2016. Portland State’s study looked at the year following the speed limit increases, comparing it to data from the three years prior. Chris Monsere, a PSU professor and the chair of the university’s civil and environmental engineer- ing department, said he pre- viously collaborated with ODOT on two different reviews on the literature surrounding speed limit increases. Monsere and research- ers Sirisha Kothuri and Jason Anderson found that speeding increased once the speed limits were relaxed. In 70 mile per hour zones, vehicles traveling faster than 75 went up by 12 percent while drivers going past 85 went up by nearly 1 percent. In the 65 mile per hour zones, the most signif- icant jump was in the per- centage of vehicles going 65 or higher, which went up by 13.4 points. “These preliminary findings of the analysis are consistent with other related research and analysis that have found increased crash frequency and severity with increased speed limits” ODOT analysis In comparison, none of the control group highway segments had an increase in speeders above 2 percent, and there was virtually no increase in the number of cars traveling 85 miles per hour or higher. Crashes were up on raised speed limit highways across-the-board, and in most cases, those increases were larger than the control segments. Crashes that caused seri- ous injury or deaths rose by 36 percent on 70 mile per hour roads, but that num- ber also went up by 37 per- cent on control segment highways. The real contrast was on 65 mile per hour zones, which saw a 67 percent increase compared with the 21-point increase seen on the control roads. Despite the disparity in crashes between speed lim- it-increased roads and the control segments, traffic volume was only 10 per- cent higher in the speedier zones. “These preliminary find- ings of the analysis are con- sistent with other related research and analysis that have found increased crash frequency and severity with increased speed limits,” the study states. Studying ODOT data and Oregon State Police press releases, a Novem- ber East Oregonian analy- sis found that fatalities from traffic crashes rose 10 per- cent in the 26 months after the speed limit increase as opposed to a 3.5 percent decline in traffic deaths statewide. Rep. Greg Barreto hadn’t read Portland State’s analysis and didn’t want to comment, but he previously defended it after the EO‘s analysis, saying he wanted to see how many crashes were attributed to drunk or distracted driving. Given the variety of fac- tors that could lead to a crash, Monsere said it’s dif- ficult to determine cause of crash on a wide scale. “You can think of a crash as having a random nature to it,” he said. But he also reiterated that there’s a significant collection of research that shows that traffic collisions go up when speeds do. Monsere said there’s other limitations to his analysis. Ideally, the study would be able to look at three The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. years of data after the speed limit increases went into effect instead of just one. And since most of the well-traveled highways in Eastern Oregon already had their speed limits raised, he had to look at other parts of the state for control segments. “They’re not ideal matches,” he said. Monsere said he’d like to do a follow-up study not only with more crash data, but with more accurate speed readings as well. While automatic traffic records are sparsely located on Eastern Oregon’s two- lane highways, Monsere said the next analysis would use new software that uses numerous GPS data points to more accurately mea- sure speed and differentiate between car and semitruck. In the meantime, ODOT is already taking some safety measures after PSU’s analysis. Troy Costales, the ODOT Transportation and Employee Safety Division administrator, told the Ore- gon Transportation Com- mission at a Jan. 17 meet- ing that ODOT planned to continue to direct resources toward speed enforcement and could also install new signs and other infrastruc- ture to prevent offroad and head-on crashes on two- lane roads. In a Friday interview, Costales said the transpor- tation commission is also starting a long-term discus- sion on establishing a pro- cess to change speed limits outside legislative acts. President Donald Trump agreed on Friday to temporarily end the fed- eral government shutdown, reopening the government through Feb. 15. It’s good news for the nearly 800,000 furloughed federal workers who were not working or receiving pay during the shutdown, but depending on what happens next, local people and programs could still be affected. Area school districts rely on grants from the U.S. Department of Agri- culture (USDA) to fund food programs for low-in- come students. Most said they were covered for the next few weeks, but if a shutdown lasts beyond next month, they’ll be more concerned. “We’re really watching the February deadlines,” Umatilla School District Superintendent Heidi Sipe said. “Currently, we’re not seeing an impact on child nutrition; however, if the shutdown continues past February, we may have some struggles.” According to a press release from the Oregon Department of Education Child Nutrition Programs, the ODE will continue processing and paying for claims for federal assis- tance on food programs throughout March 2019. The press release stated that USDA, which con- tracts with vendors to ship food products to school, would continue operating normally through Febru- ary, and that most products up through that point have already been purchased. But the press release said if the shutdown lasts beyond February, it’s unclear what will happen with food deliveries, as well as with ordering food for the following school Thank you to the following businesses for supporting Newspapers in Education Their generous support of the Hermiston Herald NIE program helps provide copies of the newspaper and unlimited access to HermistonHerald.com and the e-Edition to schools throughout the community. www.eomediagroup.com Umatilla Electric Cooperative 1090 W. Hermiston Ave. Hermiston, OR 541-567-8229 JeremyJLarsonDMD.com Our patients are the very heart of our practice 1739 N. First St. Hermiston, OR Whiteline Dig Area OldWestFCU.org 541-276-1260 BLUECC.EDU Call 811 to Locate Wait for Locates Dig Safe Rick’s Car Wash 620 E. Main St. Hermiston, OR 541-567-3908 750 W. Elm Ave. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-6414 • UmatillaElectric.com Bert's Auto Salvage & Towing BertsAutoSalvage.com 30775 Baggett Ln. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-1042 541-567-5050 QUIZNOS.COM 1565 N. FIRST ST. #9 HERMISTON, OR 97838 541-564-0264 1 2 3 4 year, which is usually done in February. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro- gram (SNAP) is another program that local fami- lies have seen affected by the shutdown. The federal program gives low-income families some supplemen- tal funds to purchase food. Belit Burke, the pro- gram designer for DHS’ self sufficiency program, said it’s still too early to tell what the real impact of the shutdown will be. Ore- gon beneficiaries received their SNAP money for Feb- ruary a few weeks early to help with the lapse in fund- ing. But they won’t receive more benefits in February, even though the shutdown is temporarily over. “Those benefits have to last,” she said. She said the amount that each family receives var- ies, but the average case- load receives $209 per month. “It’s meant to be a sup- plement, but it ends up being many people’s whole budget, so they live pretty lean,” Burke said. Other nutrition pro- grams, like the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program, are expected to be covered through February, as well. The SNAP program is a different funding stream than the SNAP-Ed pro- gram, said Angie Tread- well, the OSU Extension Service coordinator of SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro- gram Education). Tread- well said her program has already been funded for the entire fiscal year, so they will not be affected by the shutdown any time soon. That program provides ways for families to learn how to use their avail- able resources to eat better, including family cooking classes and food tastings at local schools. 2411 NW Carden Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 DuPont Pioneer - Hermiston 541-567-1860 pioneer.com Starvation Ridge Farming 79937 S. Edwards Rd. Hermiston, OR 97838 541-567-5842 YOUR BUSINESS HERE: Call Today & Donate! 800-522-0255 2212 SE 9th St. Hermiston, OR 07838 For more information on the NIE Program, visit HermistonHerald.com/hh/nie. 858387 To make a donation, call 800-522-0255. 1-888-522-1130 | www.cngc.com
