Driving too fast or running traffic lights can mean sirens, flashing lights, ambulances, pain and heartache.

What could be done to reduce that? More enforcement. If people know traffic laws are being enforced, they are more likely to obey them.

Oregon is just moving into more automated enforcement with speed and red light cameras. The Oregon Department of Transportation may ask the Legislature in 2025 to consider doing more.

It may ask to allow automated enforcement by ODOT in work zones and in other places on state highways. We had asked ODOT about this in March, because we saw a discussion about it. ODOT got back to us this week.

Work zones on roads and highways can be more dangerous. People do usually slow down in a work zone. There is still a change in the pattern of traffic. The road often narrows. Workers are sometimes right next to the road with nothing protecting them except the diligence of drivers, signs and bright vests.

The numbers of deaths in work zones can be difficult to pin down, because different sources include different data. The National Safety Council says 11 people died in work zones in Oregon in 2022 and 891 people died across the country. Most were drivers. The council says there has been a national increase in work zone deaths since 2010 of about 52%, though they did drop 7% in 2022.

Lindsay Baker, an assistant director at ODOT, told us any draft legislation for 2025 is far from finalized. But ODOT is looking at safety. It is looking at the use of automated enforcement in Oregon. It is looking at what other states are doing. For instance, Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation has implemented automated enforcement in highway work zones and ODOT is wondering if that model might work in Oregon.

More automated enforcement in Oregon might well mean that more people get tickets and have to pay fines. If we want to save lives and reduce harm, it may be one of the best tools Oregon has.