Michelle Flamez was at the Blodgett Country Store during the late-night hours in January 2024 when she watched a log truck that had been involved in a crash towed away from the scene — the first of nine fatalities on Highway 20 in 2024.
The crash involved a pickup driven by a 61-year-old Hubbard man who had pulled out in front of an unloaded log truck while attempting to turn from Summit Highway across traffic onto Highway 20.
“I was like, ‘This is terrible.’ I see bad driving all the time because I’m here and I see it,” Flamez recalled. “So that kind of lit a fire — and then there were just more fatalities.”
The experience led Flamez to organize the Highway 20 Safety Coalition, a group that has grown to 10 members and is holding a community safety event this weekend at Ellmaker State Wayside, located roughly 7 miles west of Blodgett inside the Lincoln County line.
The “Safe Driving Every Day” event runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. Oregon Impact will bring its Mobile Educational Crash Car Trailer and coordinate activities, along with community resources and safety information.
The nine deaths on the highway in 2024 came in six crashes — three of them double fatalities. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office responded to the spike with ODOT-funded overtime patrols west of Philomath, issuing hundreds of traffic citations throughout the year.
Flamez, who lived in Blodgett for five years, said a dangerous mix of terrain and traffic near the store contributed to the problem.
“That hill, eastbound towards the store, people from the store would pull out in front of them all the time and I would hear honking right there — it’s just people going too fast and not paying attention,” she said. “There’s also an intersection there to go to Summit and Nashville.”
Flamez contacted the Oregon Department of Transportation in the months that followed but wasn’t able to get much done. So, in June 2024, she started a Facebook group. Interest grew, and she connected with a friend in Alsea with a background in activism and grant writing. She recruited two advisers and the coalition now numbers 10 people.
Flamez also began partnering with organizations including Oregon Impact, whose executive director, Janelle Lawrence, provided support.
“We met a bunch of times and she made all the signs for me and was really super helpful and supportive,” Flamez said.
Flamez said ODOT has been reluctant to act on requests such as installing a traffic light or lowering the speed limit.
“They have their ways of doing things, so you have to figure out and play the game with how it works,” she said.
Flamez said she can’t say for certain whether the coalition’s work has driven down crashes and fatalities since 2024, but she has noticed a shift among her own members.
“I do know members of the coalition have said that they drive safer now just being on the coalition, so I feel like it has brought awareness to people,” she said. “Obviously, the sheriff’s department and Oregon State Police are aware of how bad that stretch of highway is … so they have to get grants to get extra patrols, which is crazy to me. There have been extra patrols since 2024.”
