News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
It's been a deadly year and a half on the Santiam Pass west of Sisters.
According to Oregon State Police in Bend and the Oregon Department of Transportation, 12 people have lost their lives on a 10-mile stretch of Highway 20 since January, 1995.
This nearly doubled the number of fatalities of the previous three years and ranks the road over the Santiam Pass as one of the most dangerous in Oregon, according to records from ODOT.
The most dangerous section extends from the Santiam Junction, where highways from Eugene, Sweet Home and Salem join to cross the pass, nearly to Suttle Lake.
Road conditions appear to have been a factor in nearly every accident. While most occurred on packed snow, ice or slush, two fatal accidents listed for the months of May and June, 1995 occurred in heavy rain, according to OSP information.
Other than the weather, there appears to be no clear pattern to the high rate of accidents. Tight curves, short passing lanes and a surface often covered with ice, water or sand challenge drivers who lack the skill or judgment to drive at safe speeds and who do not react correctly to the unexpected, according to ODOT.
Even when the tire tracks are clear, drivers making lane changes find that sand collected between the ruts can quickly send a vehicle spinning out of control and into the oncoming lane, according to ODOT.
Seat belt usage in the pass is quite high according to OSP and has kept the number of fatalities from being worse.
Four or five years ago, troopers from the Oregon State Police office in Bend rarely went into the mountains, and then primarily to cover known accidents. That has changed, following a change in philosophy by OSP administrators who have adopted a policy of "Service Oriented Policing," according to troopers who work the highway.
As a result, two troopers out of the Bend office now work approximately half their patrol hours in the pass area. An OSP trooper out of Mill City has been rescheduled to cover the area when Bend patrols are off, and another trooper was relocated out of the Salem area who covers Highway 22 toward the pass.
This last winter OSP units worked with ODOT to enforce traction device requirements, and turned back vehicles without chains when the conditional closure was imposed on the highway due to very heavy snow.
During summer weekends of anticipated heavy traffic, OSP has blanketed the area, trying to show a presence they hope will slow drivers down.
"...OSP has put a lot of effort into and will continue to put a lot of effort into the Santiam Pass project in the hope of saving injuries and lives," said Senior Trooper Mike Decker of the OSP.
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