Oregon Law Would Legalize Tiny ‘Kei’ Trucks

A bill introduced in the Oregon legislature would legalize small-format trucks on Oregon streets, reports Kea Wilson in Streetsblog USA.

“[Bill sponsor] State Sen. Anthony Broadman said the bill was inspired partly by a brewery owner in his district who wanted to use kei trucks to deliver kegs to restaurants down narrow city alleys, only to find that state laws essentially forced him to use a large delivery truck instead,” Wilson explains. 

The bill has bipartisan support, including from rural, Republican communities where smaller trucks could save farmers thousands (and from President Trump, who called the trucks “really cute”). ‘Kei’ trucks are already legal in Washington state, where many Oregonians go to buy and register them. 

Mini-trucks are affordable, fuel-efficient, and safer for pedestrians. However, legalizing them is only a first step, and doesn’t address “the other structural reasons why so many Americans are rightly afraid to travel in anything besides a large automobile — especially as so many other cars on the road continue to get bigger and more lethal.” However, Broadman hopes offering more options can help reduce costs for small businesses and farmers and provide a model for other states where kei trucks aren’t yet legal.