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Vehicles traveling north on Southwest Naito Parkway can take a legal left onto a one-way street at a red light, as long as they stop first and are cautious.

(The Orgeonian/2011)

How well do Portland area cops know the little-known traffic laws that they are charged with enforcing?

When it comes to

, maybe not so well.

"I don't think it would hurt to have a little internal communication and training about this particular law," said Lt. Chris Davis of the Portland police Traffic Division. "It's a weird nuance. I know it was news to me."

Davis and I were talking about my recent column in The Oregonian, where I noted that motorists have the freedom to take a free left on red from northbound Southwest Naito Parkway onto a series of one-way streets leading into downtown Portland.

Reader Robert Weppner of Southeast Portland agrees with Davis.

Weppner notes that Naito's northbound traffic lane curves towards the west at Jefferson Street.

"If you are the first car stopped at the light -- and, accordingly, the car that has the option of making the kind of turn you describe -- your car is, at that moment, actually facing west, perpendicular to the southbound Naito lane you want to cross," Weppner wrote in an email.

"Now, of course, what you are doing -- functionally -- is 'making a left turn off Naito,' but what your car is doing physically is preparing to drive straight through a red light. Which -- when you are in that car -- kind of feels wrong."

Since Weppner used to drive and bicycle through that intersection, he once hopped off his bike and asked a beat cop if that was a legal left turn off Naito through a red light.

The officer said, "No."

Unconvinced, Weppner thought the cop was wrong, so he actually wrote a letter to the chief of police, asking the same question.

In due course, he received "a non-responsive letter from some lesser functionary" that just parroted the statute.

"So I never did get a clear answer," Weppner said. "I still make that turn, but not if I can see a police car, because courting the opportunity to achieve (possible) vindication in traffic court is not the highest and best use of my time or -- potentially -- money."

While it may feel wrong, vehicles wanting to turn from northbound Naito onto Jefferson are actually in a turn lane and can legally make the turn after stopping at the red light.

When you're doing it, just remember to shout "Free Justin Bieber's pet monkey!"

Naito's intersection with Jefferson is much like the red light on East Burnside leading to the Couch couplet, where drivers are often reluctant to exercise their free left on red from a lane that veers to the north.

When it comes to the weird situation involving the turn lane at Naito and Jefferson, checked with Portland police, Oregon DMV and a traffic court judge. They all agreed that motorists and bicyclists can take a free left on red, as long as the coast is clear.

It doesn't matter that you're facing west. Notice the markings? The turn arrow? That's a turn lane and therefore a left turn.

Meanwhile, reader Dennis Heglund wrote that a Portland patrol officer recently pulled him over from turning left from Southeast 82nd Avenue onto Stark Street.

He received a verbal warning.

"I didn't find anything in the driver's manual to forbid it," Heglund wrote. "I talked to several officers. They all said it was not allowed. I even talked to a sergeant. He posed the question at roll call. 8 officers gave 8 answers. The sergeant finally agreed with me that it was not prohibited. However, he pointed out that crossing opposing traffic could be considered careless driving."

Actually, pages 24 and 39 of the Oregon Driver Manual specifically allow the maneuver at solid reds, red arrows and even onto freeway ramps.

Under ORS 811.360, drivers can take a free left on red after stopping and making sure the coast is clear from one-way and two-way streets onto a one-way. You can't take the free left onto a two-way street.



Careless driving? Hardly -- as long as you're being cautious while making the left on red.

Davis had been a patrol officer for a while and didn't learn about the law until he was following a veteran cop back to East Precinct during a night shift.

It was about 1:30 a.m. when Davis saw the older officer take the same left from 82nd onto Stark during a red light.

Back at the precinct, Davis said jokingly told the other policeman, "I'll send you a ticket for making a left at that red light back there."

"He looked at me and said, 'That's legal new guy,'" Davis said.

Davis said part of the knowledge gap between Portland cops and Oregon's obscure traffic laws – the citizen citation is another one that has drawn confused reactions from officers – is due in part to how the bureau recruits.

"We bring in a lot of officers who are from out of state and may not know about some of our unique laws," Davis said.

Of course, it should be pointed out that Washington also permits left turns from two-way streets onto one-way streets at red lights.

-- Joseph Rose