At long last, Portland appears to have broken through its automated enforcement camera logjam.
On Thursday, just as we teased out back in March, the Portland Bureau of Transportation announced that 11 new cameras are currently in operation since we last checked in on this issue and that eight more will be issuing citations by the end of this year. And that’s not all: at least 12 more cameras will come online in 2024.
“With more traffic enforcement, we can send a strong signal that the reckless driving we’ve all seen in recent years is unacceptable in Portland,” said the city commissioner in charge of PBOT, Mingus Mapps, in a statement.
PBOT is installing two types of cameras: one that snaps photos and sends citations to folks driving well over the speed limit (typically the threshold is 11 mph over), and another used at intersections that enforces both speed and traffic signal compliance.
Despite the widespread public and political support for cameras as a safety tool, Portland’s implementation of them has lagged. As of our story back in March, PBOT had only installed nine cameras at five locations since 2016. Officials have blamed everything from contractor and supplier issues, to design problems, vandalism, and electrical challenges for the delay.
Commissioner Mapps has been a very strong supporter of cameras and promised to double the number of cameras in an interview with BikePortland earlier this year. It looks like he’ll meet that goal. “In total, the city will soon operate 40 safety cameras throughout Portland,” PBOT said in a statement yesterday.
PBOT has also released an updated map (above) that shows the locations of all current and future cameras. See the list of new and upcoming locations below:
Many Portlanders are reasonably concerned that the rise of obscured and/or nonexistent license plates on cars might decrease some of the effectiveness of these cameras. I posed a question about this issue to PBOT.
“The cameras do have limits and your question raises the importance of continued enforcement with trained staff,” Rivera said (note that Portland can now use non-police staff to review citations and is currently staffing up to do that). “There’s really not much that cameras can do to address multiple violations.”
Rivera added that these cameras are just one tool the city uses to slow people down and reduce dangerous driving behaviors. ” We are also partnering with Portland Police, educating people about the impact of speed, and changing street designs to reduce vehicle speeds,” he said.
And what about those folks who try to hide from cameras? Rivera says they’ll use PBOT’s parking enforcement officers to catch those folks.
Learn more about PBOT’s enforcement camera program on their website.