As our community grasps for solutions to our ongoing crisis of traffic crashes and fatalities, the City of Portland has launched a survey to gauge our mood about automated enforcement cameras.
In a statement today, the Portland Bureau of Transportation says they’ve teamed up with the Portland Police Bureau to ask all Portlanders how they feel about enforcement cameras and road safety in general. “Feedback from the survey will help the city better meet community needs and expectations,” they say.
Portland began its camera program in 2016, following the passage of a state law in 2015 that authorized their use for the first time ever. It took four years to get just four locations equipped with them and and the delays frustrated many advocates. One problem was a bottleneck at the PPB, since each citation (and there were around 42,000 of them per year in the first few years) had to be verified by a sworn officer. That bottleneck was fixed in 2022 when Oregon lawmakers passed a bill allowing non-police to review and process citations. Another source of delay was the camera vendors, who former PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty once threatened to fire because of it.
Today it seems like PBOT has ironed out the wrinkles and there are now 28 cameras actively issuing citations (with two under repair) and another 10 coming online soon. The city deploys two types of cameras: one just for speeding and the other, “intersection safety cameras,” that can also cite for red light running.
I haven’t heard what prompted this latest survey, but based on city documents about the program, PBOT does a survey once per year just to monitor public perception. This will also give the agency fresh information to indoctrinate a new slate of City Council candidates and a new mayor next year.
They survey asks a range of questions about the cameras. It also queries respondents about the role of speeding in traffic crashes, whether or not the city is doing enough enforcement of traffic laws in general, and more.
Take the survey here.
