Fewer people died on Salem roads this year, but communities lost kind students, beloved teachers, church members and young children. There were 21 fatal crashes in Salem this year, according to data reviewed by Salem Reporter.  Twenty four people were killed in crashes around the city – six times the number of people who died in Salem homicides in 2025. Another two Salem residents died in crashes along east Highway 22, outside of Salem. Salem Reporter spent the year tracking crashes in and outside of city limits handled by Salem police, sheriff’s offices and state police. The Salem Police Department responded to 11 fatal crashes in 2025, down from 21 in 2024. This year saw a decrease from 2024, which was the deadliest year on Salem roads in at least a decade with 26 fatal crashes, Salem Reporter previously reported.  Salem police couldn’t attribute the decrease to one specific factor, but said officers have had more time for traffic enforcement and safety projects due to a fully-staffed traffic team.  The number of fatal crashes this year is similar to previous years, other than 2024, which was referred to as an “outlier” by the police department. “Being fully staffed now, six officers, one sergeant … not having to be just working on investigations, has allowed us to really be out and about and do the work that they all signed up to do. So I think that’s been a contributing factor, along with a nationwide trend of civility on the roadways coming back,” Deputy Police Chief Treven Upkes said in an interview. Alongside the increased enforcement presence, the department has seen less risky behavior in drivers compared to 2024, Upkes said. That combination could be part of the reason for this year’s decrease. This year, the team has dedicated more time to proactive traffic enforcement and monthly meetings with partner agencies to tackle bigger traffic projects that target specific areas and issues. The team does regular check-ins at school zones and locations that received traffic complaints, which is a routine part of enforcement the team wasn’t able to do as much of last year, according to Sgt. Scott Kofoid, who oversees the traffic team. The department has five state grants to fund projects with partner agencies to target issues related to traffic enforcement, including intoxicated driving, speeding, seat belt use, distracted driving and pedestrians, Kofoid said. Salem police work with Marion and Polk county sheriff’s offices, the Keizer Police Department and the Oregon State Police on enforcement and education projects. One project example is crosswalk safety where an officer in plain clothes crosses a street and drivers who pass without stopping get warned or cited. “None of us have enough resources. So when we can take that time to pull it together, I think we get the most bang for our buck,” Upkes said. Social media has been another helpful tool to increase awareness of traffic safety, according to Kofoid. The department makes videos and posts about enforcement campaigns the team does, which often reach around 10 times the amount of people regular posts do, department spokesman Sgt. Jon Hardy said. “To me, that’s probably the biggest thing that we get out of that, I think, is all the traction that comes along with that, because traffic is something that everybody can agree on,” Kofoid said. “No one ever says, ‘oh, nobody’s doing anything wrong.’ Well you can go out and drive around five minutes, and you can see people doing stuff, whether it’s simple rudeness or … driving around doing silly stuff. And I think a lot of times they just don’t realize … we just get robotic about driving.” Traffic fatalities have been rising in Oregon and around the U.S. for years, reaching record-high levels around 2022 and 2023. Last year’s record-high crashes tied up the Salem police traffic team, which investigates every fatal crash. The seven-person team was also struggling with staffing and resources, and wasn’t able to dedicate much time for proactive enforcement due to the number of crashes, Upkes told Salem Reporter at the start of 2025. Along with the traffic team’s full staffing, the department pushed for a bigger focus on traffic safety in its new strategic plan. Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack told Salem Reporter in October that he hopes that with full staffing, the traffic team will have more time to review traffic data and share information with patrol officers who can assist in more focused traffic enforcement. Pedestrians again lead deaths Crash victims ranged in age from 3 years old to 80 and were most likely to be killed as a pedestrian, Salem Reporter’s analysis found. Ten fatalities were pedestrians, making up more than a third of the total 24 deaths. Of the fatal crashes Salem police responded to this year, around 60% had pedestrian deaths, Kofoid said. That share has been decreasing in Salem over the last decade, but is triple the state average. Preliminary data from the Oregon Department of Transportation shows that 19% of statewide traffic fatalities were pedestrians in 2025. Salem’s remaining 14 deaths include six passengers, five drivers, three motorcyclists and two bicyclists. Local schools lost several students and teachers to fatal crashes this year. A suspected drunk driver hit and killed Jeremy Wanak, a science teacher at Sprague High School, as Wanak biked along a south Salem road on a July evening. Social media posts and news articles showed his humor that helped students enjoy his classroom, his volunteer work with children and love for his wife and two young daughters. Photos from Jeremy Wanak’s memorial service Saturday, July 19, 2025. Wanak was a Sprague science teacher who was killed by an alleged drunk driver. (MADELEINE MOORE/Salem Reporter) Later that month, Elijah Jung, a West Salem High School student, died in a crash in a rural area outside of West Salem. Jung, who’d just turned 17, was going to start his senior year and looked forward to being a dual-language scholar. His mother described him as a role model who always showed up for friends in need. Flowers, photos and words left by families and friends of Elijah Jung at the crash site. The incoming senior at West Salem High School died in a car crash July 29 on Northwest Gibson Road. (ABBEY MCDONALD/ Salem Reporter) Other lives lost on Salem roads include: Jesse Wadley, 33, of Salem, remembered by his family as a motorcycle enthusiast with a “contagious” laugh who could make anyone’s bad day better, according to an online obituary. Susan Lee Forkner, 80, of Salem, a worship leader remembered for her faith, kindness and constant willingness to help others. Terry Calderwood, 55, of Salem, a part-time welding instructor at Chemeketa Community College. Social media shows he taught at the college for 28 years. Zolayha Johnson, 16, a McNary High School student, regularly volunteered at the Southeast Keizer Community Center, sang in a school choir and planned to be a chef after graduation. More drivers criminally charged Most drivers in fatal crashes did not get cited or arrested this year. But 2025 saw noticeably more people charged for drunk driving in fatal crashes than in 2024. At least five people faced criminal charges for fatal crashes this year – all were charged with driving under the influence, and some faced more serious accusations including manslaughter. In 2024, only one person was criminally charged in a fatal crash, according to Salem Reporter’s previous coverage. Damon K. Johnson, 28, is charged for the July 10 death of Wanak, the Sprague teacher.  On that night, Johnson’s blood alcohol was 0.12%, above the 0.08% legal limit, a supporting statement for his arrest shows. Deputies on the scene smelled alcohol from the car and found a cooler inside Johnson’s car, the statement said. He faces charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter, driving under the influence, reckless endangering a person and having an open container of alcohol in his car, Marion County Circuit Court records show.  The driver in Zolayha Johnson’s death, Christopher J. Atkinson, 34, shared alcohol and marijuana with the four passengers in his car before the crash, Salem Reporter previously reported. The passengers’ ages ranged from 12 to 16. Atkinson is charged with first-degree manslaughter for the 16-year-old’s death, along with assault, providing alcohol to minors and driving under the influence, court records show. One driver was recently sentenced to 13 and a half years in state prison after killing a Salem pedestrian on Northeast Lancaster Drive in January. The driver, Sergio R. Aguilar, 36, continued driving after he hit the victim, who stayed on the car’s hood for several blocks, prosecutors said. Aguilar was sentenced in November for first-degree manslaughter, driving under the influence and failing to stay at the scene, court records show. He is currently in custody at an eastern Oregon prison. Other drivers criminally charged: Saul Hernandez-Roblero, 23, faces charges for Salem’s deadliest crash in over two years. He is accused of manslaughter, recklessly endangering a person and driving under the influence for the deaths of four people in a September crash that involved open beer and no seatbelts. Karlie Dolan, 33, is accused of manslaughter, driving under the influence, reckless driving and recklessly endangering a person for the crash that killed a woman identified by the Statesman Journal as Dolan’s mother.  Other takeaways Although crashes happened all around the city this year, more happened in northeast Salem than any other area of the city. Lancaster Drive alone had five fatal crashes this year, according to Salem Reporter’s analysis. The fatalities include two pedestrians, a driver, passenger and motorcyclist. Last year, it was south Salem that led city neighborhoods in fatal crashes, along with downtown. Many fatal crashes happen around the start and end of the year because of weather factors and the sun rising and setting as people drive to work. Often, the majority of traffic fatalities happen around those times of the year, Upkes said. In 2025, Salem saw most of its fatal crashes in those time frames, with seven in January through March and five in October through December. “Last year, we knew we were having an outlier year, because we were seeing so many that were during the summertime, and so we were like ‘uh oh.’… So we eclipsed our total from the previous year already by July,” Upkes said. Last year, around half of the fatal crashes happened during peak commuting times, between 7-10 a.m. and 4-6:15 p.m. This year, around half of fatal crashes happened late at night or early in the morning, roughly between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. RELATED COVERAGE:After record fatal crashes in 2024, Salem police plan to focus on traffic safety 2024 was the deadliest year in at least a decade on Salem’s roads, with 25 fatal crashes Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. 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