Traffic Alert: Oregon's First Speed Safety Camera Start Issuing Tickets Saturday

Oregon's first speed safety cameras don't start issuing tickets until Saturday but they have already started making a difference, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The cameras are along the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.

The stretch is one of the top roads in the state for people being injured or even killed while driving. Approximately 25,000 vehicles travel the road each day.

PBOT says that before the cameras were deployed an average of 1,417 vehicles traveled 51 mph or more - the speed limit is 40 mph. Since the cameras were set up, that number has dropped to 93 vehicles per day traveled that fast for a 93.4 percent reduction.

"It's amazing to see how quickly these safety cameras have reduced dangerous speeding on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway," said Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick, who oversees PBOT. "I'm so glad these cameras have already improved safety on a busy street where pedestrians face a terribly high crash rate."

PBOT says this is the first camera installation since the legislature passed a law allowing for their use in 2015. The legislation requires all money collected from tickets be used to cover the cost of the program or pay for safety improvements and programs on High Crash Corridors.

Additional cameras will be installed during by spring 2017 at SE 122nd Avenue between Foster and Powell Boulevards, Marine Drive and Outer SE Division Street.

Photo courtesy Portland Bureau Transportation