{"id":8228,"date":"2012-03-06T08:23:53","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T16:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pdxinjurylaw.com\/?p=8228"},"modified":"2022-03-31T17:41:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T17:41:26","slug":"oregon-studded-tires-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pdxinjurylaw.com\/es\/oregon-studded-tires-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Studded Tires: Laws and Initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland has long been known as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the entire country. Many proposals have been made to make cycling around the city safer, because Portland bicycle accident attorneys see hundreds of clients each year who have been injured by other road users. Frequently, this is because of unsafe cycling lanes or dangerous cycling intersections.<\/p>\n

With money tight, however, many of the new proposals and long term strategies, such as the much-heralded Portland Bike Master Plan, are struggling to get the funds they need. One of the reasons for this is because Portland\u2019s roads are so damaged by studded tires each year, the cost of the repairs means money that could be used to fund bike-road projects is being spent filling in ruts and grooves caused by the studded tires.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you look at the correlation between bike funding and studded tires<\/a>, it\u2019s not hard to see why the money to create a safer cycling environment is not forthcoming. Official ODOT statistics show that studded tires create some $50 to $60 million worth of road damage in Oregon alone each year<\/em>, and the ODOT only has about $11 million each year to repair that damage. <\/p>\n

Does that mean the gap between the money needed to fix damaged roads and the money that is actually available is growing that much on an annual basis? You bet it does! In fact, the backlog of repairs to Oregon roads and bridges, if the funding was available today, would cost a staggering $4 billion to complete. Cyclists and Portland bicycle accident attorneys know that as long as that gap exists, sufficient funding will never be available for worthwhile bike projects.<\/p>\n

Raising Awareness and Understanding Budget Limitations
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One private citizen, Jeff Bernards, has been banging his head off a brick wall, figuratively speaking, for five years, trying to raise awareness of the issue of the damage caused by studded tires deflecting badly needed resources away from important transportation projects.<\/p>\n

Bernards has gone so far as to contact the governor\u2019s office, as well as several PBOT and ODOT officials, and admits he\u2019s gotten nowhere. He now wants to pursue a ballot initiative to ban studded tires, saying there will never be enough money for the other projects as long as the state has to continue to repair roads that will only be chewed up and damaged again within a few months.<\/p>\n

Bernards isn\u2019t just plucking figures out of thin air to suit his arguments. In March, 2008, an ODOT spokesperson admitted in an interview that \u201cstudded tires can cut the lifetime of a paving project in half.\u201d The ODOT has been trying for years to at least curtail the use of studded tires in Oregon, which were first legalized in 1967.<\/p>\n

A number of proposals to at least cut back the use of studded tires have included:<\/strong><\/p>\n