Traffic in downtown Albany: Here’s a file shot from December 2025.
Albany police send out messages when there’s a traffic crash: Avoid this intersection until further notice due to a traffic accident, they say. On Saturday there were two of these advisories, followed by one on Sunday morning.
For all of 2025, the city police counted 591 traffic collisions. Two of them together resulted in four deaths, and 121 were wrecks in which people were hurt.
Aside from the raw numbers, the police report that Albany’s rate of collisions per 1,000 residents has been going down over the last several years, with a slight uptick in noninjury crashes in 2025. (See the graphic below, from the department’s annual crime report.)
The police department website shows reports for most months. Going back over last year, the monthly crash totals ranged from 48 each in June and July to 53 in September and 63 in November.
It’s tempting to blame drivers on booze or drugs. And that fits many cases, according to the reports, but not most of them.
According to the summary for last year, 327 of the 591 collisions involved no impairments at all.
Instead, the leading cause was “inattention.” The reports are silent on the details, such as whether drivers’ attention was diverted to something else like their phones.
As far as other “driver factors” are concerned, inattention was followed by failure to yield the right of way, disregard of traffic signs, and driving too fast for conditions.
Albany has been running speed and red-light cameras at four intersections, but those are not where many crashes occur. It’s impossible to say whether this type of enforcement has any effect on reducing collisions.
The obvious conclusion is that if we want to reduce motor vehicle crashes, all of us have to concentrate on driving when we’re behind the wheel. Not just in general, sort of. But concentrate every moment that our vehicle is moving, no matter what the speed. (hh)
It seems to me that red lights mean nothing. When my light turns green I take a moment to look left and right. It has not failed me. Alot of drivers have no regard for others, impatient and quick to blame the other drivers.
OH MY
When I sit behind the wheel, I try to think like a commercial airplane pilot. Usually that mentality helps to be focused.
If they would just put a cop at 9th and Geary where the street becomes one lane heading toward I-5 they would catch a lot of people going in the wrong lane which is supposed to be going the opposite direction. In the last month I’ve seen at least four people going the wrong direction and we almost got hit by one.
I drive just like when I ride my Harley, assume no one sees you.
The main problem is that the increase of people in Albany has out grown the streets and light system. One day last week it took three green lights to move out of a turn lane. People were backed up past the light behind us so no one could move through 2 intersections. People were stuck in the intersection multiple times with no where to go. If Albany’s goal is to mimic Portland they are well on their way. No one expects any kind of lawful driving anymore with a flawed system, they just go with the flow.
We took away Drivers Ed from schools, it now requires way too much for most people to pay for it!