PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For 10 years, Portland police say officers have automatically boosted fines against drivers caught speeding on Marine Drive, assuming that it was a state-designated safety corridor. But it’s not.
Now Mayor Sam Adams says he’ll ask Multnomah County Circuit Court to issue refunds to any drivers who can prove they paid inflated fines and to remove the black mark of a safety corridor violation from their driving records.
Only the Oregon Department of Transportation can designate high-crash stretches of highways as safety corridors with enhanced fines. The Oregonian says about 32 miles of U.S. 26 make up the only state safety corridor in the Portland metro area.
Portland police Lt. Bryan Parman says patrol officers were confused by city signs reading “Entering a Safety Corridor” on roads approaching Marine Drive. The city installed the signs in 1999 as a warning, hoping to reduce speeding and traffic deaths on the treacherous 15-mile road. But Marine Drive was intended to be a safety corridor in name only.
