TIGARD, Ore. — UPDATE: The red light enforcement was temporarily paused last month after the cameras failed to meet ODOT standards. Now the cameras are back online and drivers will be issued $265 citations, starting March 11.
Original story below:
Drivers who run a red light on Pacific Highway in Tigard will receive a $265 fine, starting Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Red light cameras were recently installed at the intersection of Southwest Hall Boulevard and Pacific Highway (99W). The 30-day warning period for drivers ended Monday.
Now, anyone caught running a red light will get a citation in the mail, along with photos and a link to video of the incident.
In just one month at Southwest Hall Blvd and Pacific Hwy, there are more than 1,300 red light violations.
The intersection is one of three on Pacific Highway in Tigard with newly installed cameras. The other two are located at 72nd Avenue and at Durham Road. Citations will be issued at the 72nd Avenue intersection beginning on Feb. 26. The 30-day warning period for the Durham Road intersection will likely start Feb. 21, according to Tigard police. More people run red lights at the Durham Road intersection than the other two.
Tigard now joins multiple cities in the Portland metro area including Portland, Tualatin, Beaverton and Sherwood.
Tigard chose those three intersections based on crash data and monthly red light violations. From 2012-2016, Tigard Police Sgt. Leigh Erickson says there have been 154 crashes in those three intersections combined. They had to do something.
"We know red light running contributes to a lot of crashes so we want to kind of bring that down, those numbers down, significantly to make them safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists," Sgt. Erickson said. "Especially with these intersections because of how large they are and where they’re located it’s really difficult for our traffic safety members to sit there and enforce the laws on them. So we wanted to find another mechanism to make them safer and that’s what photo enforcement allows us to do."
Erickson says in his experience the system is very accurate. The red light cameras will snap a photo when you don't come to a complete stop at a red light before entering an intersection. That information is then collected by the system, reviewed by a company the city of Tigard contracts with, sent over the police department for a sworn officer to review, then the incident is deemed a violation or not. If approved by police, the ticket is mailed out to the individual registered to the car and license plate.
The cameras also have the capability to record speeding violations. But Sgt. Erickson says they are anticipating a lot of work now that red light violations will be rolling in, so they need to handle those before taking enforcement up a level.
"The system has radar so it picks up vehicles as they approach the intersection, calculates the speed of the vehicle and knows when the vehicle is about to cross over the intersection. So it’ll start taking pictures right before it crosses, as the vehicle crosses through the intersection and completes its turn," Erickson said.
Timothy Barnes opened Tigard Pawn 4 More on the corner of Pacific Hwy and Hall Blvd a decade ago and has seen traffic and violations get worse.
"People need to remember you've got to stop and it’s been steadily getting worse for years - worse and worse and worse. It's almost like an infection that’s not checked and it needs to calm down," Barnes said.
He says he sees people running red lights on his way to work and outside his store every single day. Most issues he sees are drivers blowing the light as they turn left.
"I'll be at the intersection and I'll see two to four cars - after it's full red - blow through the left turns. It drives us crazy. If you're not paying attention you could get hit. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents at this intersection than there have been," Barnes said. "We count to four or five before it's time to go after the light turns green, because we know."
Sgt. Erickson says they've received a lot of questions about the system so far, mainly related to when and why the lights on the cameras flash.
"The questions I've been dealing with are: 'the light flashed, am I going to get a warning or a ticket?' So just assuring folks that it's not just because it flashed, that somebody is going to get a notice in the mail. There's this whole vetting process."
Learn more about red light camera enforcement here.
How do you feel about red light cameras? Join the conversation here.
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